The Catalyst
by Myst Marshall
Summary: Living up to his moniker, Minato appeared in a flash after sensing Kakashi's distress signal, only to be greeted with the sight of his two remaining students lying in a pool of blood. Rin's blood. Imagine his surprise when he found Rin still breathing, even after losing so much blood. In which the divergence of one event serves as a catalyst to change the entire plot. Complete!
1. Prologue

**Prologue: In Which She Survives**

_They were surrounded. Everywhere she looked, there was another Mist ninja. Even through the thick mist, Rin could see that each of them already had their swords drawn, poised in front of them. _

_She was standing back to back with Kakashi, with a kunai drawn, but it didn't take a genius to figure out there was no way they could win even if Kakashi was a prodigy. _

_Her hand trembled, ever so slightly as Rin saw the Mist ninjas inch closer to the pair. _

"_Relax," Kakashi murmured. "I won't let my comrades die." _

_After the last word left his mouth, Rin no longer felt Kakashi's back against his. The sound of lightning crackling permeated through the silence; Kakashi had made his first move. She didn't have time to check up on him as a Mist ninja engaged her in battle. Rin deftly dodged to the side, raising her left hand to block another Mist ninja's sword with her kunai. Briefly after the clash of metal against metal, Rin jumped out of reach, tossing a kunai with a paper bomb attached to serve as a form of distraction. _

_Was there even a point in fighting? Perhaps if Rin surrendered, then at least Kakashi could live. _

_Except the Mist ninjas didn't want her to surrender. They weren't here to recapture her, but rather force her to return to Konoha, where the tailed beast that had been planted inside of her would be unleashed and wreck havoc on the village. _

_If there was one thing that Rin knew, she thought as she continuously parried off the Mist ninja's blows, was that there was no way that she was going to let that happen. _

_The only way to prevent that...was to die. _

_Rin saw an opening as she watched Kakashi charge up another chidori. Turning away from the opponents in front of her, Rin took off in Kakashi's direction, her legs carrying her to her destination faster than ever before. _

_In the few seconds that it took Rin to reach Kakashi, her life flashed before her eyes, starting from her academy days up to the mission where she was captured. _

_Rin leapt in front of Kakashi, mere centimeters before the chidori would rip through her chest. Both of his eyes, black and red, widened upon registering her presence, but it had been too late. _

_All she felt was an excruciating pain before everything went dark. _

She jolted awake to the feeling of a hand shaking her shoulders. Rin blinked twice, and even pinched herself to confirm that she wasn't dreaming. She wasn't. Kakashi was standing right in front of her, hand outstretched.

Rin took his hand and Kakashi pulled her upright. She stumbled, hand shooting outward to steady herself with the wall. The blackness in her vision slowly faded away, until she could see again. See the concern etched all over Kakashi's face.

"We need to get out of here, before they realize I'm here."

"They?" Rin croaked, having only a vague recollection of how she ended up her current predicament.

"Mist nins," Kakashi answered as he pulled her along, down the dimly lit tunnels, leading away from her holding cell.

Rin blinked. Mist nins? Then what was that nightmare…?

The memories hit her like a tidal wave. Their mission, where Minato sensei had split up with them, with the promise of catching up to them soon. After being ambushed by foreign nins, who were later identified to be Mist nins, Kakashi and Rin had gotten separated. Rather than killing her, they knocked her out and carried her to this hideout where they sealed the third tailed beast inside of her.

When Rin came to, after passing out from the sheer pain of having a tailed beast sealed inside of her, the first thing that she noticed was foreign chakra inside of her. Most of it was attributed to the tailed beast inside of her, but there was a third chakra, concentrated right next to her heart.

A seal. A temporary seal, judging from the chakra that was constantly pulsing, almost like it was itching to be let loose.

From there, it didn't take long for Rin to put two and two together. The seal would break upon a catalyst. And that catalyst? Reaching Konoha's perimeters.

And the dream? It hadn't been a dream, but rather a foreshadowing of the events that were to come. The worst part was that Rin couldn't do a damn thing to change the outcome because there wasn't any other way.

"Kakashi," Rin called out, pushing herself to run faster so that they were running side by side. Kakashi's head cocked slightly in her direction, indicating that he was listening.

"I can't go back to Konoha," Rin blurted out, her words jumbled and rushed. "The Mist sealed the third tails inside of me and it'll be unleashed once I'm in Konoha's vicinity."

As expected, Kakashi was stubborn and adamant on going back. "We need to find Minato sensei. He'll know how to seal it."

"No, you don't understand," Rin protested, "There won't be time-"

The sound of metal clanging together cut her off.

The Mist had caught up with them.

Kakashi jumped backwards, tossing the kunai in the first Mist nin's direction, before launching a couple shurikens as well. The Mist nin was able to deflect all of the projectiles with his sword.

Rin unconsciously inched towards Kakashi until they were standing back to back. Her eyes took in their surroundings, from the way the mist was progressively getting thicker to the fact that they were completely surrounded.

Just like in her dream.

"Kakashi, you need to kill me."

"What? No. I made a promise to Obito...we're going to get out of this alive." With that, Kakashi took off, forehead protector already pushed upwards with a ball of concentrated lightning in his right hand.

The kunai in her hands trembled as Rin tried to muster up the courage to kill herself. As a medic nin, she knew over a hundred ways of killing someone, yet she was unable to end her life with her own hands.

It felt like deja vu as the Mist nin attacked her, pretending that they were going to take her back to the village. Rin deflected all of their blows, before backing away, tossing a kunai with a paper bomb attached, just like she had in her dream.

With her mind made up, Rin spun on her heels, taking advantage of the Mist nin's momentary distraction to sprint to Kakashi, where he already had a chidori charged up in his right palm.

Just like in her dream, Rin leapt in front of his chidori before she lost her courage. It was for the sake of the village, to protect everyone that she loved.

Just like in her dream, Rin saw Kakashi's wide eyed expression and his desperate, but failed attempt to change the trajectory of his chidori. Yet this time with startling clarity, Rin saw his Sharingan transform from three tomoes to a shuriken shaped pattern.

And just like in her dream, Rin felt the excruciating pain before everything went dark.

_I'm sorry, Kakashi, Obito._

Kakashi's hand trembled uncontrollably as the lightning fizzled out. He pulled his hand, his hand that was tainted with Rin's blood, out of her body. His entire body shook as he caught her body before it fell to the ground before he collapsed onto his knees, one hand clutching his left eye.

The throbbing pain in his eye only served as a reminder that he had failed Obito.

Kakashi was only able to reach into his pouch to retrieve his jonin gift from Minato sensei, the three pronged kunai, and toss it a few inches away from him before he promptly passed out, right next to Rin.

Living up to his moniker, Minato appeared in a flash after sensing Kakashi's distress signal. With ease, he took out the Mist nins, who were still reeling from the shock at what Rin had done and wondering what their next move should be.

Body after body landed with a thump on the ground, before silence pervaded the area. Minato spotted two of his students laying in the clearing, side by side, in a pool of blood. Fear clenched his heart; was he too late again?

When Minato reached their sides, he pressed two fingers against Kakashi's neck, feeling relieved that he felt a pulse. Still, Minato feared the worst for Rin, the blood stain on Rin's clothes made it evident that the pool of blood was hers. He was hesitant in checking her pulse, his fingers shaking as they neared her neck.

What Minato saw surprised him. A series of criss cross black marks ran down Rin's face, along her neck and presumably to the rest of her body as well. The once gaping wound on her torso had closed completely, leaving no evidence that Rin had been wounded in the first place.

Minato placed his hand on Rin's forehead, lightly tugging off her forehead protector as the black marks began to recede back to its origin. A purple diamond. The strength of a hundred sealings. Tsunade's jutsu.

He hadn't even realized that Rin had been able to master Tsunade's jutsu.

It was hardly visible, but Minato wanted to cry out of out relief when he saw her chest rise ever so slightly. Rin was breathing.

Rin was alive.

* * *

Everything was blindingly white. Often times, Rin had pictured what heaven looked like, to comfort herself that her parents were in a better place now, yet this was far from what she imagined heaven to be like.

Or perhaps Rin had gotten it all wrong and this was hell?

But even so, Rin had pictured hell to be a much darker place. Not a vast plane of blindingly white space where there wasn't a single soul in sight.

She felt herself drifting forward, like there was a magnetic force pulling her forward. Rin didn't resist the pull; there was no point. She was already dead, so the dangers that she could potentially face didn't matter.

When she stopped drifting, there still wasn't a single soul in sight.

But there was a voice.

"Rin."

"Who are you?" Rin whispered softly. She made a full 360 degree turn, but there still wasn't a single person in sight. That, or perhaps she wasn't supposed to be able to see the owner of the mysterious voice.

"You may call me Romo."

That name didn't mean much to Rin, but perhaps that was how everyone was in afterlife. Mysterious and vague. Perhaps, it was time she started adapting.

"Is this what death feels like?"

A chuckle permeated through the area. Rin was taken aback. She hadn't expected that mysterious man Romo had it in him to laugh.

"You aren't dead."

"I'm not?" Rin questioned. Her hands ran up and down her torso, examining her body with the precision of a medic nin. Her wound from the chidori wasn't there and neither were the numerous scratches on her body, but Rin hadn't expected her injuries to follow her to afterlife.

"You are currently stuck in a limbo between life and death," Romo explained. "If you continue to your left, you will enter heaven. If you choose to go right, you will return to your own world." As Romo explained her current predicament, Rin's head turned left and right, seeing no difference between the two. How were those paths supposed to lead her to two completely different places?

"Are you stuck like me then?"

"No. I am the keeper of this dimension, to help lost souls find their way."

"Why didn't I die? Were you the one who planted the dream into my mind?"

"The strength of a hundred seals saved you. You unlocked it right as that boy impaled you with his jutsu. And yes, I was the one who planted the dream."

"But why?"

"I can see the future and the future is grim. I thought, perhaps, that something could be changed if I planted the vision into your mind."

"There was nothing that I could have done differently," Rin countered, "I will gladly die for my village a thousand times over."

"Yes, you made the same decision, but you survived this time, did you not?"

"Did I really?" Rin questioned, scanning the length of her torso once more, "None of this feels real to me."

"I understand that you are disorientated right now, but you will need to make a choice soon. Time is running out. Are you going to choose death or return to your own world?"

Rin pursed her lips in contemplation. On one hand, death meant that she would be reunited with her family once more and Obito, but there were still plenty of people in her world. Kakashi. Minato sensei. Kushina nee. Kurenai. Shizune. All of the people in her graduating class.

Rin felt the temptation tugging at her heart strings, to simply give up and rejoin her family. The family she hardly had memories of, the family that she had been robbed of spending more time with. It would have been so, so easy to just die. No more war, no more fighting, no more headaches over stubborn shinobi patients who tried every tactic to escape the hospital, but…

Rin shook her head rapidly, chucking out all of those thoughts. Obito would want her to live. He died to give her a second chance to live, and now that she was given a third, she should take it. No, Rin needed to take it.

Romo hummed in approval. If Rin could see the mysterious figure, she would have imagined the man nodding his head ever so slightly while stroking his beard, if he even had one.

"I see that you've made up your mind."

She was taken aback. Either Romo was a mind reader or Rin was entirely too expressive, however, the latter was more likely. Mentally, Rin swore that she would work on controlling her facial expressions when she got back.

"Yes," Rin responded firmly, her eyes fixated on a random spot of nothingness, "I need to go back."

"Need?" Romo questioned.

"Need," Rin affirmed, her voice full of nothing but conviction.

"Good, but before you go, I want to give you a gift."

"A gift?" she repeated. What powers did Romo have? Was he some sort of deity?

"I have subdued Isobu, the sanbi. He has agreed to be cooperative with you." Rin supposed that it was a good thing. She wasn't supposed to know about the kyuubi that was sealed inside of Kushina nee - her discovery had been a complete accident - but since then, Kushina would share tails of Kurama's rantings knowing that Rin would be the only one to appreciate the stories. Kakashi and Obito hadn't been aware of the kyuubi's existence in Kushina. Minato sensei would only worry about her well being.

"So my chakra control…" Rin drifted off, wondering if she would be subjected to the same fate as Kushina. Large reserves of chakra, but trash control.

Wouldn't that mean her career as a medic nin was over?

"It won't be affected as much since Isobu will be cooperative. However, I believe that it won't be at the level that you are used to. Regardless, you are an intelligent kunoichi, you'll find a way."

Will she? Was there still a point in returning to her own world if the only dream Rin ever had was going to be ripped away from her? Sure, she still retained the medical knowledge and theories, but that didn't mean anything if she couldn't perform medical ninjutsu again.

"I see that doubts are clouding your judgment," Romo whispered softly.

Perhaps Rin was wrong and Romo was a mind reader because this was the second time he had been able to deduce her train of thoughts.

"I won't be the same anymore."

"No you won't," Romo agreed. "But perhaps you can be someone even better."

_Better. _Now that wasn't a word that Rin heard in a long time. Rin had been so content and placid with her current self that she never thought about bettering herself. And that was what led her into this predicament in the first place.

She was weak. She caused Obito to die.

And she hadn't done a single thing about it.

"I need to go back." While her previous statements had been filled with conviction, this time, there was an unwavering resolve underlying her words.

"You may proceed."

Old Rin might have glanced at her left side, before heading right, because that was her. Hesitant. Unsure. Cowardly. But the new Rin walked confidently off to the right, in the direction of home.

Rin didn't look back once.

* * *

Minato was worried. Kushina typically, although jokingly, called him a worry wart, but this time, his fears were justified. While Kakashi had made it out with just a few scratches, bruises, and depleted chakra reserves, Rin had been a different story.

From what he gathered from Kakashi after he woke up, Rin had stupidly jumped in the trajectory of his chidori. He hadn't been able to divert its track, to which Kakashi admitted that he felt extremely guilty of, the chidori pierced straight through her chest, a mere two inches away from her heart. Normally, that would have been enough to kill a person on the spot, but the strength of a thousand healings saved Rin.

Saved her physically, but not mentally.

The medics informed Minato that the trauma of the event was what forced Rin's body into a coma. No one was sure if she would be able to wake up, especially when Tsunade, Konoha's best medic, was out of the village at the moment. His sensei, Jiraya, had been tasked to find her.

It had only been four days since Jiraya left the village, but to Minato, it felt like it was ages already.

Promptly at seven o'clock in the evening, Kakashi appeared next to Minato, hands tucked into his pockets, posture slouched, as his lone eye gazed at the prone figure on the bed. It was startling to see how deathly pale Rin was, matching the color of the bed sheets.

"No change?" Kakashi's voice had been so low, almost like he hadn't meant for anyone to hear that but himself, and if Minato hadn't paid attention, he would have missed it.

"The same."

The repetitive beeping from the machines filled the air as silence fell between teacher and student once more.

It was ten minutes later, when Kakashi was the one to break the silence once more. Uncharacteristic for him, but Minato supposed that he was lonely after losing one teammate and having another one at death's doorstep.

"Rin is a true hero," Kakashi murmured quietly. "I don't think I would have the courage to do what she had done. She protected Konoha, us."

Minato placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, knowing that his student was most likely blaming himself, taking it on as his burden like he did with everything else. "You protect Konoha in your own ways as well. Rin's situation was just more...complicated."

Complicated didn't even begin to describe it. The Mist nin captured Rin with the goal of planting the tailed beast inside of her - and somehow Rin survived the sealing process, which wasn't something that everyone could do - with the intention of using it to destroy Konoha before retrieving it back.

Was that a declaration of war? Was Konoha going to be embroiled in war so soon after the Third Great Shinobi War?

Minato could feel the incoming headache of the political implications of Kakashi and Rin's latest mission. Even if Konoha decided to turn a blind eye to the entire situation - something that Minato wouldn't allow since it was his students that had been involved - the Mist nin would surely want their tailed beast back. Perhaps, they would try to kidnap Rin again. Or perhaps, war will be declared.

Either way, now that the sanbi was in Konoha's hands...the power distribution was unbalanced.

Better yet, Minato hoped that the Mist would keep quiet about the incident, to not let other nations be aware that they had lost one of their tailed beasts. It was all wishful thinking and a problem for the future.

For now, Minato just fervently hoped Rin would wake up.

"I heard that you were nominated to become the Fourth Hokage."

Minato wasn't sure how Kakashi knew that, since the information wasn't to be made public until the end of the week, but Minato didn't question it. He wouldn't put it beyond Kakashi having overheard the higher ups taking about it.

"I am," Minato admitted. "But…"

"You don't want to take the hat until Rin wakes up," Kakashi filled in for him. He cocked his head slightly to the side, his lone eyes seemingly staring in Minato's soul. "Or are you having self doubts about your ability to protect the village when you couldn't protect your students?"

"Both." It was eerie how well Kakashi could read him, but they had known each other for about ten years. Minato considered himself an expert at reading the expressionless prodigy, so he wouldn't put it past Kakashi to be an expert at reading him as well.

"For what it's worth, you are a great sensei. You and Kushina looked after Rin and me when we were younger, after our parents died. I have faith that you'll be able to look after the village."

If those words came out of anyone else, Minato would have called bullshit, but this was Kakashi. Kakashi didn't waste words on meaningless compliments or praises and he certainly wouldn't feed lies to anyone. Kakashi was genuine and it made Minato feel better.

"As for Rin," Kakashi continued, surprising Minato. This was the most that he heard Kakashi say in a while, aside from bickering with Obito. "I have faith that she'll be awake in time to see your coronation."

Hope...Minato needed more of that in his life.

* * *

**A/N: Hi guys! Thank you so much for taking the time to click on this story and making all the way to the author's note. This is my first Naruto fanfiction and honestly I am super excited to write this story. The idea for this story has been floating around in my head for a while now and I've written a few drabbles now and then, but now I am actually going to write this story. **

**Based on the current timeline, everything remains canon until the part where Rin is supposed to die. If Obito could survive being impaled by a chidori, why can't she? :) **

**Since we don't know much about Rin, I'm going to take some creative freedom and create my own background for her and "abilities" that she will have in the future. **

**Also bonus question! Can anyone guess who "Romo" might be? **

**See you next time!**

**-MM**


	2. Initial Shortcomings

**Chapter One: Initial Shortcomings **

According to everyone, it was a miracle that Rin Nohara had been able to survive being impaled by the chidori at close range, dip into a coma, wake up from said coma, and be perfectly okay all in one week, a day before Tsunade and Jiraya were set to return to the village. The hospital staff ran a variety of tests on Rin, but it was clear no one really knew how to handle this situation.

Physically, Rin was fine. Brain activity was normal. Mentally, Rin seemed fine.

Everything was normal, just like Rin had never been injured before.

Tsunade barged into the hospital in the same confident aura surrounding her like she was still the head of the hospital. Even if she wasn't, most of the hospital staff recognized her and bowed to her as she passed, before scurrying out of Tsunade's way. Her heels clacked against the tiled floor as Tsunade made a beeline to room 132, where supposedly a shinobi was able to make a spectacular recovery.

Tsunade didn't bother knocking; instead, she flung the door wide open. All of the occupants in the room stood up, to acknowledge her existence, all save for Rin who merely pushed herself up in a sitting position. That caught the attention of Minato, who hurriedly bent downwards to give her a hand.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she surveyed the occupants in the room. Minato. Kushina. And Minato's brat.

The first thing that caught her attention was the small purple diamond on Rin's forehead, just like on her own.

_So the kid was able to do it, huh._

"Looks like you were able to master my technique," Tsunade stated folding her arms over her chest in an attempt to look more intimidating.

"All thanks to your guidance, Tsunade sama," Rin murmured, still polite as always.

Tsunade couldn't help but admit that the girl was intelligent. Sure, Kakashi was a certified genius, but his reputation overshadowed the real genius: Rin. To having figure out how to utilize medical ninjutsu at such a young age, even younger than Tsunade herself, to being able to crack an S ranked poison designed by Tsunade herself in less than three hours as a genin, and finally to being able to apply the theory of her strength of a hundred seals technique with no guidance was certainly impressive.

Tsunade remembered a timid ten year old girl approaching her at the hospital, wanting to inquire pointers. However, her stuttering and lack of self confidence put off Tsunade into taking her as a pupil. After explaining the basics of her strength of a hundred seals technique, Tsunade told ten year old Rin that if she couldn't master her jutsu, then she had no right to become her apprentice.

A virtually impossible challenge, seeing that even Shizune wouldn't be able to unlock it. Tsunade had no use for a unconfident medic, so she had set her up to fail.

Except it seemed that Tsunade had severely underestimated Rin's intelligence and abilities.

"Let me check up on you." Rin nodded and Tsunade approached her, hands already glowing green as she started scanning from Rin's head all the way down her body. Tsunade paused briefly when she reached the spot where Rin was supposedly pierced with the chidori.

"Here, right?"

Once again, Rin nodded in confirmation. Tsunade gave a thorough examination of the area, before concluding that the wound had healed completely. Tsunade shouldn't have been surprised, since it was her jutsu after all, but to heal such a large hole without dying of blood loss first was incredible.

"You were lucky. Two more inches to the left and you would be dead. Even the strength of a hundred sealings can't recreate a heart."

"I know."

Tsunade saw the pleading look in Rin's eyes, the same pleading look that she had seen many times before. She mentally sighed, hoping that she wouldn't regret her decision. "You have permission to be discharged from the hospital."

Rin's face lit up like she had received the greatest present of her life. "See sensei, even Tsunade sama says I can be discharged. I can go to your coronation!"

Minato bit the bottom of his lip, as if to restrain himself from protesting against it. Everyone who knew Minato knew that was exactly what he wanted to do, but who was he to argue against Konoha's best medic?

"I'll stay with her the entire time to make sure she doesn't collapse," Kakashi offered, hoping to ease some of Minato's worries. Minato nodded.

Today was Minato's big day, the day where he would be sworn in as the Fourth Hokage. It wouldn't do him any good to be worried about other things.

Rin was too excited at the prospect of being let out of the hospital to find it strange that Kakashi would volunteer for such a thing. It was no secret that most shinobis despised staying in the hospital longer than was necessary, especially medic nins when they were the ones being treated rather doing the treating because the only time that happened was when things went really wrong.

"Great! Now that's settled, I'm going to home, shower, and get a change of clothes. See you at the ceremony later, sensei!" Rin was so excited to be out of the hospital bed. With the precision expected of a medic nin, Rin pulled out the needle connected to the IV drip and all of the equipment sensors that was attached to her body before swinging her legs to the side of the bed. Her bare feet touched the cold tiled floor, but even that didn't bother Rin.

Minato really looked like he wanted to say something, but a hand from Kushina prevented him from saying anything. After all, he should be glad that his student was okay, healthy enough to be active.

"Rin, was it?" Tsunade called out before Rin could dash out of the door. Rin poked her head back into the room, her brown eyes full of curiosity at what the sannin legend wanted with her.

"If you still want to become my apprentice, come find me after the ceremony. A promise is a promise after all."

If it was even possible, Rin's smile became even wider.

Rin never felt so proud of her sensei as she stood among the crowd as she watched Minato come into view donning his Hokage hat and newly made Fourth Hokage cloak. The crowd erupted into cheers, most notably Gai who was screaming something about the power of youth. Besides her, Kakashi looked worn out by Gai's antics, but that didn't deter him from letting a small smile grace his face. It was hardly visible, practically unnoticeable for strangers, but for those close to Kakashi understood the significance.

He was happy. He finally had something to be proud of.

Rin reached over, wrapping her hand with his, squeezing it tightly.

_I'm here for you, _the gesture screamed.

To his credit, Kakashi didn't push her hand away. Instead, he relished in the comfort and the warmth that it provided while his lone eye was fixated on Minato sensei, who was currently giving his speech.

It was the typical "I will do my best to protect the village" kind of spiel, but it was coming from Minato sensei. He was genuine.

Perhaps, things were looking up.

Predictably, Kakashi headed to the memorial stone after congratulating sensei on achieving his dream. Rin wanted to join him, Kakashi knew, but couldn't because she had promised that she would meet with Tsunade after the ceremony. Still, Kakashi would probably be there for so long that he would still be there when Rin came around to visiting Obito.

Like usual, Kakashi let the tips of his fingers brush against the carving of Obito's name on the stone before kneeling down in front of the memorial stone.

"Sensei became the Fourth Hokage today," Kakashi told him. "I know you would be proud of him too."

Kakashi paused, wondering if he should finally come clean about what happened to Rin. Obito probably already knew, Kakashi reasoned, if he was watching over them, so Kakashi found himself recounting every detail of the mission and berating himself for failing to keep his promise to Obito.

As Kakashi described the events, he felt his left eye pulsing, as if this was Obito's way of condemning Kakashi for his mistakes. The uncomfortable feeling faded away until all that was left was a dull sense of pain and a trail of blood that ran down his face.

* * *

The look of fury written all over Tsunade's face was forever implanted in Rin's mind as she numbingly stared down at her hands. Her trembling, blood covered hands. Rin still hadn't found the strength to get out of her seat to the nearest washroom, to get rid of the blood. Or perhaps Rin kept the blood on her hands to serve as a constant reminder that she had failed the ailing shinobi in the operating room.

When Rin found Tsunade after the ceremony, the first thing that Tsunade wanted to test was the level of her medical ninjutsu and knowledge. Rin had passed the knowledge part with flying colors and she was certain that the application part wouldn't have been a problem either. After all, if she could perform high risk, high level operations out in the field with only her basic medical supply, then being in the operating room was nothing.

Except Rin forget that she wasn't the same as before. When she reached down to make an incision on the patient's chest with her chakra scalpel, Rin ended up damaging his organs instead, causing a lot of internal bleeding. Hence Tsunade's furious expression before singlehandedly tossing her out of the operating room.

As someone who chakra control came like second nature to, Rin had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that she had to practice chakra control. But was it even possible to achieve the same level of control that she once did with such an immense amount of chakra inside of her?

Romo told Rin that it was possible, but what did deities know about medical ninjutsu?

At some point, Rin eventually found her way to the washroom although it was prompted by urging from a civilian nurse, who lectured her on all of the potential infections that might occur as if Rin didn't know any of that. Still, Rin said nothing and nodded numbly as her feet carried her to the nearest washroom. Using her shoulder to push open the door, Rin went the first sink and turned the tap on.

The blood dyed the water pink, yet even when the water turned clear again, all Rin could see was her blood soaked hands. Rin continued washing her hands, eager to get the blood off, but it was still there. It wouldn't go away.

It wasn't until Rin scrubbed her hands raw did she finally realize that the blood wasn't real. Sighing, Rin turned off the tap, staring at her red hands. Rin sent a small amount of chakra to her hands, hoping to heal her split knuckles but when pain flashed through her left hand, Rin immediately stopped.

Her hand was bleeding.

Rin couldn't even heal herself anymore, much less others.

She wanted to cry. She felt the tears in her eyes, but Rin forced herself to tilt her head backwards to contain them. No, she wouldn't fall back down this spiral of acting weak. Rin would find a way, even if she could no longer use medical ninjutsu.

Just shortly after Rin finished bandaging her own hands, the doors to the operating room opened and Tsunade was the first to storm out. Her hazel eyes briefly flickered over to the girl who was sitting on the bench, before her eyes fell to the bandaged hands. Tsunade didn't address her yet; instead, she gave final instructions to the other medics on how to care for the patient.

"You should have left," Tsunade stated evenly, genuinely surprised to see that the girl had stayed. Perhaps, the thirteen year old girl in front of her wasn't her timid ten year old self. She definitely wasn't, seeing how Rin magically fucked up a simple operation.

"I have to face the consequences as a result of my actions," Rin responded.

"Come." Tsunade began heading towards her office, trusting that Rin would follow her. Rin did, making sure to keep three steps behind her. Not too far, but not too close either to feel the full brunt of the anger rolling off of Tsunade.

Once inside her office, Tsunade gestured for Rin to shut off her office doors. Tsunade made a few hand seals before clasping her hands together in front of her.

"This room is soundproof. Now start talking."

Rin wasted no time in confessing to Tsunade. If there was anyone that could help her figure out her problem with chakra control, then it would be Tsunade.

"I have the sanbi sealed inside of me."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the admission. "I see. When did this happen?"

"My last mission." Rin paused, wondering if she should continue to divulge any more details of the mission. Minato sensei had already been briefed and he told her to keep the fact that she was a jinchuuriki under wraps for now, but Rin trusted Tsunade.

"So that's why your chakra control is complete shit."

"Yes," Rin admitted. "I think even with additional training, I won't be able to reach the precision needed as a medical ninja."

"So what will you do?" Tsunade prompted. There was absolutely no compassion written on Tsunade's face and to be honest, that scared Rin. If the one person who Rin thought could help her wasn't willing to help her, then there was no hope.

"I don't know. I want to be a medical ninja, but…" The _I probably can't now _remained unsaid and it lingered in the silence between the two of them.

"You don't sound very confident," Tsunade deadpanned.

"I want to continue being a medical ninja."

"Why?"

"I want to be able to save my comrades and not have to helplessly watch them die."

"And how will you do that when you are convinced that there's no way to hurdle over this obstacle?"

Rin fell silent. Tsunade was right.

"Come back to me when you have an answer for me."

It was a clear dismissal so Rin shuffled out of the room, shutting the door behind her. It felt like she was ten years old again, when Tsunade issued her first challenge to unlock the strength of a hundred seals in order to become her apprentice. And now that Rin finally did it, after three long years, she couldn't even perform a simple medical ninjutsu.

Rin dragged her feet as she traversed through the streets of Konoha, instinctively moving to sidestep the civilians. Her mind was whirring with all sorts of possibilities, but Rin was drawing a blank on a feasible solution.

Her feet carried her to the doorsteps of Konoha's library. The first place her ten year old self went to, after being issued the challenge. Perhaps her thirteen year old self wasn't all that different; after all, her first instinct was to seek out more information.

Rin didn't know how long she stayed in the library. In fact, she wasn't even aware of how much time had passed until one of the employees came by and told her that they were closing for the night. After apologizing for delaying their closing, Rin left the library with a stack of books. During her time at the library, Rin had managed to fly through the academy level books on chakra control, as well as the genin level ones, and now had chunin level books in hands.

Even so, Rin had learned absolutely nothing new. If she wanted to actually learn something new, Rin would probably have to ask Kakashi to borrow some of the jonin level books for her. However, that would mean having to explain to Kakashi why she needed the books in the first place, especially since he knew she had impeccable chakra control.

Rin's eyes snapped open at the sudden realization. Her thought process just now...must have been how Kakashi thinks everyday. For all of the flack that she gave Kakashi for not sharing his problems with his team, now she was doing the exact same thing.

Maybe that was why Kakashi insisted on shouldering his burdens by himself.

Deciding that she would seek out Kakashi tomorrow, Rin opened the book and flipped to the first page.

At some point in the night and in the middle of reading, Rin fell asleep as evident when she woke up with her cheek plastered against page 415 of one of the books. Sunlight was already streaming into the window; the birds chirping noisily outside. Rin sat up, stretching out the kinks in her back before heading into the bathroom to get ready.

The first place Rin went was Kakashi's apartment, but like she expected, he wasn't there. Of course, Kakashi would already be out and about, doing something productive at this time. Rin then went to some of Kakashi's favorite training spots, but those places were surprisingly devoid of the silver haired boy.

Perhaps, Kakashi was on a mission.

Rin opted to search some of the other parts of Konoha before going to the Hokage's office to ask about Kakashi's whereabouts. However as time went on, Rin began having self doubts.

Would Kakashi even care?

Sure, Kakashi seemed to cherish his teammates more than ever after the Kannabi Bridge mission, but he still remained stand offish. Did he consider Rin as a friend or was he simply just a teammate that he was obligated to protect since he made the promise to Obito? The more that her self doubts consumed her, the slower her steps had gotten, until Rin halted in the middle of one of Konoha's busiest streets.

Did he care?

"Rin?" Rin jerked out of her thoughts when she saw the very person she was looking for, eyeing her with concern.

She let out a nervous chuckle, one that Kakashi was sure to have picked up on.

Of all of the places that she had to run into Kakashi...didn't he like solitude? Why was he here?

"Can we talk?" Rin requested. Kakashi nodded, understanding that she wanted to speak in a more private setting. Predictably, Kakashi led her to one of his favorite training spots, Training Ground 6.

"Are you busy?" Rin was stalling, she knew.

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her before responding, "Not really."

The small part of her that hoped Kakashi would say that he was busy so she wouldn't have to follow through with what she was going to say got squashed immediately.

Surprisingly, Kakashi was patient with her as Rin opened her mouth, then shut it again, unable to get the words out of her mouth. To him, she probably looked like a gaping fish, but her mind was solely focused on how she was going to begin the conversation.

Finally, Rin decided to the hell with it. "I have a problem and I need your help."

"What kind of problem?" Kakashi asked warily, suspicion in his eye. Both of them knew that Rin never asked Kakashi for help, if she ever had a problem, Kushina nee and Minato sensei were her first choices. Heck, Rin would probably seek out the other shinobis from their graduating class before coming to him. The only person Kakashi would be ranked above would probably be Gai.

"I need to borrow a jonin level book from the library, but I don't have access, so can you borrow it for me?"

Kakashi's shoulders sagged in relief. If that was what Rin needed, then it made sense that she would ask him since he was the only jonin among her friends and it was a trivial thing to bother Minato sensei about.

"About what?"

"Chakra control." Rin had whispered it in such a soft voice that Kakashi was almost sure that he didn't hear her right. Rin? A book on chakra control when her control was miles ahead of Kakashi's?

"Did you say chakra control?" Kakashi asked, needing the confirmation. Rin nodded. Judging from the solemn expression on Rin's face, Kakashi knew that she didn't really want to be questioned about it, so rather than asking her why, he went for a more open ended question.

"Is anything wrong?"

Rin shook her head slowly, before halting as if she was remembering something, then nodding.

Almost ten years of shinobi training couldn't have prepared Kakashi for the bomb that Rin was about to drop on him.

"I can't use medical ninjutsu anymore."

For the second time during their conversation, Kakashi wondered if he had heard her right. Except this time, Rin stated it pretty clearly although her words were slightly rushed as if she wanted to just get it over with.

For the longest time, Kakashi associated Rin with medical ninjutsu, to anything related to healing, so it was strange to hear those words come out of her mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"With the sanbi sealed inside of me, my chakra control…" Rin faltered at the end, trusting Kakashi to be intelligent enough to understand. He did.

"Is there any way to retrain your chakra control?" Kakashi was sure that Rin had already gone over that possibility, but he wanted to have all of the information so he could figure out how to best help her.

"My chakra control can be trained to be better than it is now, but it won't reach the precision required to utilize medical ninjutsu. I'm trying to see if there is another way to help with that, but so far all of the books I've gone through haven't been very helpful."

"What's the problem?"

"My problem?" Rin repeated, confusion written all over her face.

"What's different that made your chakra control like this? You need to figure out what the problem is before you can find solutions," Kakashi lectured.

She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together in concentration. The problem? Rin hadn't really thought about it, but rather had just been blindly searching for methods to improve chakra control. Except all of the methods written in books just detailed chakra control exercises that RIn had done prior to learning medical ninjutsu.

So what was the problem?

According to what Romo told her, if he was to be believed, Isobu was cooperating with her. So far it seemed so too, since Isobu remained relatively dormant and didn't bother her. Yet she could always feel his presence, the large quantity of foreign chakra in her…

That was it!

"I think it's because I have too much chakra now," Rin explained. "Before, my chakra reserves were average, but my chakra control made up for that, but now I have a large quantity of chakra and I don't know how to handle that."

"Hmm, so theoretically if you are able to reduce your chakra reserves back down to an average amount, then you should be able to have the same level of control?"

Rin nodded. "I think so, but how?"

"Seal it away?" Kakashi suggested, in a manner that revealed he didn't think it was a plausible solution either.

"Then I wouldn't be able to tap into that chakra if I need it," Rin countered.

"Tap into the chakra…?" Kakashi questioned to himself, the gears in his mind turning. After seeing the mark on Rin's forehead, it dawned on him.

"Your seal," Kakashi began, "You can tap into it when you need it right?"

"Yes. To achieve it, I had to divert my chakra network to fill up a reservoir with chakra while the rest was for daily use. Now that I achieved it, I only tap into the chakra when I need it and-oh."

"Oh," Rin repeated, understanding what Kakashi had been implying with his question. She couldn't believe it had taken her that long to catch on.

"Thank you Kakashi. I think I figured it out." With that, Rin bid him good-bye, in a hurry to start working on the solution. Why hadn't Rin thought about it earlier? It was the exact same principle as the strength of hundred seals, except with such a large amount of chakra, Rin would need to create multiple reservoirs to contain it all. Was it even possible to create that many reservoirs? And if it was possible, would that mean she would need to spend three years filling up the reservoirs all over again?

She needed to speak to Kushina nee to figure out exactly how the tailed beast's chakra affected her own.

_There's no need, _a deep voice boomed in her head. Rin faltered for a moment, that wasn't a figment of her imagination was it?

"Isobu?" Rin said aloud. It was all that she needed to say before she felt herself being jerked into another unknown plane. Yet this time, the landscape was full of water, a seemingly endless amount.

Rin took a few steps forward, glad that she hadn't lost her ability to walk on water. Every step echoed loudly through the vast plane, like this place was designed to expose all intruders to the keeper of the dimension.

When the still water began to ripple lightly, before turning into a wave of water, Rin hated to admit that it took a lot more concentration and exertion on her part to stay afloat on top of the roaring water. Her eyes were fixated on the creature that was slowly emerging in front of her, water dripping down its body. Its single red eye was fixated on her, almost like it was sizing her up.

Maybe calculating its chances of breaking out? Kushina nee told her that Kurama wanted nothing more break out of his jail and constantly antagonized her since he was able to break free.

The two of them remained in a staredown, until Rin broke the silence. "I'm Rin Nohara." Her hand reflexively reached forward, ready to shake the other person's hand before she remembered that it was the sanbi, not a human. She retracted her hand.

"You may call me Isobu." Surprisingly, his voice was gentle and calm, the complete opposite of how Kushina nee described Kurama.

"What is this place?" RIn questioned, figuring that it was safe. Isobu didn't appear to have any desire to attack her anytime soon. Perhaps Rin was just too naive for her own good.

"A landscape in your mind," Isobu responded. "I currently reside here. If you ever want to come back all you need to do is conjure this imagine in your mind. To go back to your world, release the chakra at your feet and let yourself sink."

Oh. That was good to know, Rin supposed, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with that information. Why had she come here in the first place?

"You wanted to know how my chakra affects your chakra network, correct?"

Rin nodded. Isobu must have sensed her confusion. From all of the stories she heard from Kushina nee, Rin thought Isobu was surprisingly...nice. Perhaps this was entirely Romo's doing, but if it was an unwilling promise then Isobu could be a lot ruder. After all, Romo only said he was going to be "cooperative," not "nice."

"For the most part, I can keep my chakra contained in this landscape," Isobu explained. "However, due to the massive amount, a part of my chakra leaks into your network every time you use chakra. I can't control that."

"How much?"

"About half of your current reserves when you are not using your chakra. When you do use it, the amount will multiply based on the amount you do use."

"So potentially, I will have more of your chakra than my own?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me more about the properties of your chakra?"

"I am a water type. My previous host was able to use my chakra for genjutsu."

"I see. Thank you, Isobu. I think I know what I need to do now." Isobu gave his version of a human head nod. With a final farewell and the promise to visit again once Rin figured out her problem, Rin released the chakra at her feet letting herself sink.

When her whole body had sunken into the water, Rin's eyes snapped open. Her blurry vision took in the familiar landscape of Training Ground 6 except the sun was starting to set already. Had time already passed so quickly?

Still, Rin was eager to get started. She sat crossed legged, in a mediating position, conjuring a mental map of her chakra network. Since unlocking the strength of hundred seals, the pathway to that particular reservoir had cut itself off and would reappear when the reserves needed to be refilled. Rin formed another reservoir right next to that one, a much larger one before redirecting her network to that one.

The catch was how she was going to make sure all of the chakra that went into that was Isobu's. The obvious answer was to separate it by the viscosity of chakra, as Isobu's was considerably denser than her own, but how?

Rin still had a lot of work cut out in front of her.

* * *

**A/N: Hi guys! **

**Here's the usual disclaimer about me not owning any of the characters, except for OC or the Naruto universe. **

**Thank you so much for the feedback from last chapter, glad to know that some of you are enjoying the story thus far. Sorry for the boring chapter, but I need to lay the foundation for Rin's abilities since not much is known about her aside from her medical ninjutsu. **

**Thank you for reading! Feel free to let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	3. Separate Ways

**Chapter Two: Separate Ways**

From the moment that Minato became Hokage, it was clear to all three members that Team Minato would be disbanded. For the first two weeks after taking the position, Minato had been too busy learning the ropes of being Hokage to spare a thought about the wellbeing of his students. After all, Rin was most likely still recovering and was already under the tutelage of Tsunade, one of the greatest medical ninjas, so he wasn't too worried about her. As for Kakashi, he had always been an independent child, even more so as he got older, so Minato had no concern that he would be fine on his own.

It wasn't until the gray haired teen strode into his office one day, did Minato seriously realize something was wrong with him. For one, Kakashi almost always preferred using the window or any other unconventional method of entry, as evident by the numerous times that Kakashi showed up at the window of his house, so it was strange to actually see the teen use the door. The front door, no less. Secondly, his posture was slouched, bearing no traces of his previous uptight self. Even with his slouched posture, Minato could tell that Kakashi was still highly alert. That was a small comfort for him, at least he knew Kakashi hadn't been slacking.

"I want a mission." Ah, there he was, the straight forward, no nonsense Kakashi that he had grown to know.

With the war over, Konoha's shinobi force was no longer stretched thin, so Minato opted to send three man teams as many missions as possible, even if they were of jonin status. And since Team Minato disbanded, sending Kakashi on a mission hadn't even crossed his mind since he didn't have a team anymore. However, Kakashi was a jonin, a very competent one, so it didn't make any sense to keep him in the village.

"I'll try to find something for you," Minato settled for responding, but Kakashi saw right through the bullshit.

"That means you won't," Kakashi deadpanned.

"It's difficult to find suitable teammates for you." And it was. While his age wouldn't have been frowned upon during war, post war, other older shinobis would question if his rank was attributed to his competency or from the sheer fact that they needed soldiers for war. Minato could assign him to a platoon with chunins of his age, but he wanted the younger generation to have some semblance of childhood now that the war was over. But Kakashi being Kakashi wouldn't just idly sit around.

Minato sighed.

"Then assign me a solo mission." A predictable request.

"No."

"Then what am I to do? I refuse to idly sit around."

"Join the Anbu." Minato had two reasons for offering Kakashi that position. One, it kept Kakashi busy. Even if being in the Anbu meant all sorts of mindless tasks, Kakashi wasn't the type to complain about his assignments. Second, it was a way to keep Kakashi close to him, as Minato felt the teen gradually drifting apart from him now that he didn't have a team to keep him rooted to his place.

Kakashi agreed and Minato sent him on his way to get settled into the Anbu. Minato hoped he was making the right choice and not letting the darkness in his heart consume him even further.

The second notable visitor had no qualms in just flinging the door wide open, rather than knocking like Kakashi had done. Minato's blue eyes visibly widened at the unannounced, unexpected visitor. Tsunade.

"I want permission to leave the village again." It was phrased like a request, but Minato knew that it was a demand.

"Why? Aren't you training Rin?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You aren't aware that she can no longer use medical ninjutsu? I thought you were smarter than that, Minato."

Realization dawned on Minato and suddenly, he felt very stupid for thinking that he didn't have to worry about Rin. She just had a tailed beast forcibly sealed inside of her with absolutely zero guidance. Kushina had wanted to reach out to Rin, but Minato was the one who convinced her to give Rin some space to sort things out. When Rin was ready, she would seek out Kushina on her own.

How wrong Minato was.

"So you didn't know."

"It didn't cross my mind," Minato admitted. "I guess I'm too used to thinking that she is the same person as she was before."

"She didn't come to you for help?"

Although it pained him to do it, Minato shook his head.

"Interesting," Tsunade murmured. "If Rin didn't come to you to seal off the tailed beast chakra, either she's being stubborn and stupid or she thinks that she has a better way."

"Sealing isn't the best method," Minato told her. "You can't access the large amount of chakra unless you break the seal and that's risky. And the possibility of the seal weakening and breaking is a high risk too. So if there's a better way…"

"Is there? I told the girl that I wouldn't train her if she can't perform medical ninjutsu." Minato grimaced. That must have hurt to hear from Tsunade, someone that Rin had been vying to get tutelage from, but he knew that it was reasonable. All of Tsunade's skills were based around precise chakra control and if Rin couldn't do that, then there was no point.

"Since she hasn't come back to me yet, I'm going to assume that she gave up. Thus, I would like to resume my freedom of travelling around."

"I-" Minato was conflicted. If the Sandaime was still in office, he would have granted her permission immediately, but Minato wanted her to stay in the village just a bit longer. At least to buy some time for Rin because he was confident that she was working something out.

"If you don't, I'll still leave anyways," Tsunade continued. "I just prefer going through the proper channels out of courtesy."

"Alright," Minato conceded, "I'll get the paper signed and filed by the end of today."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me-"

Tsunade never got to finish her sentence, as a third visitor - another unexpected one - bursted into his office, slightly out of breath with a loud cry of "Minato sensei!" The figure faltered upon realizing there was another visitor in the room and amended her previous greeting. "Tsunade sama, Hokage sama."

"Rin," Minato acknowledged, while Tsunade just stared blankly at the girl. "Did you need something?"

"Yes, but it can wait," Rin hurriedly responded. "It looks like you're currently preoccupied with other pressing matters."

"Tsunade san was just leaving." Yet Tsunade made no move to leave.

"Oh okay," Rin said, seemingly undeterred by Tsunade's presence in the room. "Do you know where Kakashi is? I have to show him something."

Minato did know where Kakashi was, but Kakashi would be too busy to meet with Rin until later tonight. As far as Minato knew, the integration process into the Anbu took hours and there was no guarantee that Kakashi would become Anbu in the end.

"Why don't you show me instead?" Minato offered as a compromise. Plus, he felt slightly miffed that Rin had gotten closer to Kakashi of all people. Didn't she always come to him first in the past? At least if not him, then Kushina. Was it because he was neglecting his students?

Rin's face fell at Minato's offer. "Oh, but I don't think you'll be able to understand the significance of it."

Blunt. Were Kakashi's traits rubbing off on Rin?

"Show him." Tsunade. Both Minato and Rin hadn't expected for her to speak up at all, even if it was obvious she was very interested in their exchange.

"Hai." Rin reached towards her pouch, pulling out a kunai. Minato expected some sort of kunai trick, maybe she had figured out how to channel her chakra nature into a weapon, but he certainly didn't foresee Rin using the weapon to make a deep cut across her palm.

"What-" Minato tried to get out, but Tsunade was the one who silenced him. Minato and Tsunade watched quietly as Rin's hand glowed green, slowly but surely stitching up the cut until all that was left were a few drops of blood.

Tsunade had been thoroughly impressed with Rin's performance. The healing was a bit rough, just like the work of a fresh faced rookie, but considering the circumstances, Tsunade had been impressed that Rin managed to find a way to bypass her obstacle without seeking Minato's help. If Rin was able to reach that level of precision, then it wouldn't be impossible to regain her former aptitude.

"How-I thought you…"

Rin cocked a questioning eyebrow at him. "You know?"

Minato couldn't do anything more than nod.

"How?"

That one word question was more than enough to set Rin off into an explanation. Rin spared them no details, going on about how her initial research was useless, then to approaching Kakashi. Kakashi was the one who helped her figure out the problem and even planted the beginnings of a solution into her mind. To her talk with the sanbi and the information that she gained from it.

Though usually not one to interrupt, Minato just had to ask the burning the question on the forefront of his mind. "You were able to speak to the sanbi? Peacefully?"

"Yeah, Isobu is pretty nice," Rin stated, as if that was completely normal. "Anyways…" Then Rin proceeded to continue with her story, while Minato filed away a mental note to get more details about her encounter with the sanbi.

When Rin reached the part about using the theory of her strength of a hundred seals, Minato was lost, while Tsunade continued to listen intently to every word.

"I created a second reservoir to host the excess chakra that leaks into my system," Rin was saying. "I placed a mental filter in my chakra network so that Isobu's denser chakra would drip into the reservoir while mine would pass straight through. That way I can access my chakra for healing purposes while tapping into the sanbi's chakra when I need it in fights. Still, it's a work in progress. I think I'll need a couple more weeks before my control is back to its previous standard."

Tsunade's lips curled into a grin. Looks like she hadn't been wrong about Rin being a medical genius. Even she hadn't been able to think of that.

"Nice work kid."

It was glaringly obvious to the other two members in the room that Rin was trying her hardest to bite back a smile in an effort to not look too giddy at receiving a compliment from one of the greatest medical ninjas.

"Thank you, Tsunade sama."

"Tsunade shishou," Tsunade corrected. Predictably, confusion flickered in Rin's eyes. "Meet me at the hospital tomorrow, seven o'clock sharp. Don't be late or you'll regret it."

Happiness shone brightly in her eyes. At least, one of his students was happy, Minato mused.

* * *

Kakashi slinked his way through the dimly lit hallways of the Anbu section of the Hokage Tower. A man dressed in the typical Anbu garb passed by him, hardly sparing him a glance, yet Kakashi knew that the man was mentally sizing him up based on the brief glance from the corner of his eye.

Kakashi knew what he saw. Another kid who had been traumatized, heart cloaked in darkness. Cold-blooded. Heartless. Merciless.

Even with the complex layout of the Anbu headquarters, Kakashi burned the blueprint of the layout in his mind as he made his way to the evaluation center. If he had been younger, Kakashi might have been concerned on what the evaluation entailed, but his war veteran self believed that nothing could be worse than watching two of his closest people dying, then almost killing a third with his own hand.

His current self continued to strode to the evaluation center without a care in the world.

Upon reaching the mysterious room, Kakashi raised a hand to knock, suppressing his own chakra signature while letting a miniscule amount of chakra to make himself aware of his surroundings. Two men on the other side of the door, one chakra signature rapidly approaching. There were three more chakra signatures in the vicinity, but they were getting fainter.

He redirected his focus as the door swung open, revealing a very familiar blonde. Yamanaka Inoichi, the next in line to be the head of the clan. As Inoichi stepped aside to allow Kakashi entry into the room, his eye took in the second figure. A teenager, a year or two older than himself with a one long scar running diagonal across his face. Stoicism was written all over his face, but that didn't intimidate Kakashi in the slightest.

"So you want to join the Anbu?" Inoichi questioned. Kakashi spied his open file laying on a table in the corner of the room and deduced that Inoichi probably knew everything there was to know about him, including what he was here for. After all, Minato sensei must have been prepared for him to agree and informed Inoichi ahead of time.

Then the question...must have been a test of his resolve and commitment.

"Yes." The lone word was barely audible, but both figures were able to hear the conviction underlying his solemn tone.

"As you are probably aware, the Anbu is a special force that reports directly to the Hokage. The Anbu performs its duty from the shadows; it is a nameless and unrecognized job. Many assignments that falls to the Anbu are those which make normal jonins squeamish. Are you prepared to shoulder that burden?"

"Yes." Kakashi's facial expression didn't change in the slightest. The only movement on his face was when he blinked, in every five second intervals. Can handle routine...check.

"As the Hokage's direct personnel, the Anbu is privy to many highly classified information. In the event that you are about to be captured, you are to commit suicide and erase your body from existence. Are you prepared to take your own life at a moment's notice?"

"Yes." Not afraid of death...check.

"In the event that you are captured, you must be able to withstand even the worst kinds of torture to keep the secrets of Konoha safe. Are you prepared to endure torture?"

"Yes." Not too soon after Kakashi uttered his response did he feel a foreign source of chakra in his mind, forcing its way in. Kakashi closed his eyes, directing all of his concentration to sustaining his mental defenses. However, all of his efforts were in vain as Inoichi was able to make his way through his barriers.

Once inside Kakashi's mind, Inoichi began to unleash his mind torture. Dredging up Kakashi's biggest fears, Inoichi made them replay three times. Three times Kakashi watched as the scene of Obito getting crushed under the boulder unfolded before him. The first time, Kakashi felt himself instinctively reaching out to Obito, to prevent him from pushing Kakashi to safety. The second time, Kakashi found himself yelling out Obito's name until his voice hoarse. The third time, Kakashi merely just stared at the scene, reciting the mantra in his head that it wasn't real.

_If you tell me where the Hatake summoning scroll is, I'll stop. _

The voice had been so enticing and Kakashi felt himself about to give in, mouth open to tell the voice the exact location of the scroll, but halted before the first word came out of his mouth. That would be betrayal and Kakashi had sworn loyalty to his ninken just like they had sworn loyalty to him. Kakashi bit the tissue inside his cheek to prevent the words from leaking out.

Next, it was the whispers. His five year old self stared down at his father's prone body, blood seeping through the wooden cracks of the wooden floor as flashes of lightning allowed Kakashi to see that it was his father. In the darkness, Kakashi couldn't see anything, so it was easy to pretend that it wasn't his father or that his father had just been sleeping. Yet the light confirmed Kakashi's worst fears.

Even as his five year old self stared numbly at his father's dead figure on the floor, there were voices in his head. Voices criticizing how much of a failure his father had been. Voices condemning his father's actions. Voices stating that his son was going to end up being the same no good shinobi that his father had been. A voice...telling Kakashi that he was now free of his father's mistakes.

_I'll make it all go away if you tell me where the scroll is. _

Kakashi wasn't sure where the newfound courage came from, but he found a single word leaving his lips, "No."

_No?_

A series of images flashed before Kakashi's eyes. Different people, different settings, but all with the same theme. All of the people that Kakashi was close to were dead and Kakashi had been utterly helpless, unable to prevent their deaths. The icing on top of the cake was watching himself impale Rin with the chidori once more. Except this time she stayed dead.

Kakashi felt his tough exterior cracking once more. His father's death had been easy to get through, since he had eight years to come to terms with his death. But Rin's death? Too fresh, and all too real that almost pushed Kakashi to crack.

Almost.

Kakashi found comfort in the small medic kit resting in his weapons pouch. A fully stocked medic kit, which meant that Rin was still alive to restock it for him after each mission. Not to mention, she was still very much alive to come to him for help…

Did Rin still want that jonin level book on chakra control? Kakashi realized that he never did follow through with getting that book for her. That would be the first thing that he did once he left this place.

Where was he anyways? Was it even important where he was? Actually, did Rin even need that book still? It had already been two weeks and he was sure that she would have bugged him for forgetting. Or perhaps Rin didn't want to bother him again?

The neverending questions that ran through his mind served as an effective block to the voice. Inoichi left Kakashi's mind once it became clear that the boy wasn't registering a single word that he said to him or showing any reactions when Inoichi played more scenes.

Kakashi had passed the mental test. There wasn't any need to conduct a physical test either, as they had all seen his incredible combat skills and analytical mind during the jonin exams.

Three minutes after Inoichi released his mind invasion jutsu, Kakashi snapped into awareness, looking slightly disorientated at first but recovered in a record time.

Just to test him anyways, Inoichi threw out a random question. "Who was the first Hokage?"

"Senju Hashirama," Kakashi answered without missing a beat. Inoichi turned to the teen besides him, Ibiki Morino, who had furiously scribbled notes throughout the whole process. Ibiki wrote one last word on the paper, before circling it twice then turning the clipboard in a way that only Inoichi could see the contents of the paper.

His eyes were drawn to the circled word. Pass.

Just as Inoichi thought. When Inoichi first heard that the next Anbu hopeful was Kakashi, he had been wary. Sure, the boy had combat potential, but Inoichi figured his young age might have been the cause of not passing the mental evaluation. Most would argue that the younger the shinobi, the less traumatic experiences for Inoichi to feed off of, but Kakashi had plenty. At times, Inoichi saw Kakashi becoming so close to breaking, but there was something to hold him back.

Ten minutes into the mental torture, Kakashi had found his way of remaining unaffected, one of the fastest record in the time Inoichi served in the T&I department.

The boy would make a fine addition to the Anbu, Inoichi mused as he poofed out of existence, ready to report to the Anbu commander of his latest addition leaving Ibiki to inform Kakashi of the next steps.

Everything still felt surreal to Kakashi as he numbly made his way out of the Hokage Tower after meeting his new team. His team captain went by the moniker of Fox and true to his moniker, was known to be one of the most cunning members of the Anbu. The other members of the team consisted of Deer, who was particularly adept with the use of genjutsu and Boar, who had an impressive amount of raw strength.

His feet carried him to the memorial stone, where Kakashi bent down, to brush the pad of his thumb over the engraving of Obito's name like he always did. Then he spent the next three hours updating Obito on everyone's life before talking about himself. Kakashi informed Obito about his entrance into the Anbu, his new teammates. His new teammates were just like him, rule abiding shinobis who took their duty seriously. Jonin Kakashi would have been elated to be one a team with them. But Anbu Kakashi?

He wanted his old team back, even if Obito was always late and entirely too loud to complete a stealth mission. Even if Rin was entirely too compassionate for her own good and worried over the smallest of wounds. Even if Minato sensei showed too much mercy during the war.

Kakashi had grown to accept all of their faults, but it was too late. Entirely too late.

They were gone.

* * *

**A/N: Hello!**

**So I think the root of Kakashi's spiral down to darkness happened because he became alienated from his peers and Minato tried to help him by keeping him close to him, but that didn't turn out well in the end. Minato still loves his students, but I think becoming Hokage had made him appear distant to them (hence Rin seeking out Kakashi to show him her breakthrough rather than Minato). **

**I'm not sure who the head of the T&I department is before Ibiki so I figured Inoichi was a good option. In case you didn't figure it out, the boy who acted as Inoichi's assistant is Ibiki. According to the databooks, Ibiki is a year or two younger than Kakashi so he's still working his way up to being the head of T&I. **

**Hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story and let me know what you think! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	4. Blank Period Part I

**Chapter Three: Blank Period Part I**

By the end of the second month, Rin was able to regain her previous chakra control. By the end of the eighth month, Rin's mind was practically exploding with all sorts of medical knowledge. At that point, Tsunade had declared there was nothing more that she could teach the young medic. Upon seeing Rin sparring, so pathetically if Tsunade may add, Tsunade changed her mind and began teaching her taijutsu. By the end of the twelfth month, Rin had completely mastered the technique behind her monstrous strength and was evading attacks at a jonin level. All that was left was for Rin to work on her stamina.

After being in the village for over one year, Tsunade decided that she was long overdue for a break. Her final act as a shisou had been to teach Rin how to summon Katsuyu, hoping that there would never be a situation in which she would need to use it and left with a young Shizune in tow.

And then Rin was alone again. Minato sensei was too busy with his Hokage duties to train her. Kakashi had fully immersed himself in the Anbu and was rarely to be found traversing the village anymore. So Rin turned to Kushina nee, something that was long overdue.

Upon seeing Rin, Kushina had let out a long string of expletives before going on to rant about how Rin should have came to her earlier for help. By the end of her rant, Kushina broke down in tears and merely pulled Rin closer to embrace her in a hug.

Kushina forced Rin to stay for almost the whole day, insisting that they had a lot to catch up on. So Rin stayed for lunch, then an afternoon snack, then for dinner. Rin told Kushina all about her experience as a jinchuuriki, which Kushina confirmed that Isobu was a lot more pleasant than Kurama.

As promised, Rin did visit Isobu after she figured out how to control his chakra and made a point to visit him at least twice a month, just to chat. Isobu had been wary of her frequent appearance at first, and even accused her of wanting something from him, but eventually warmed up to the idea of participating in an ulterior free conversation. According to Isobu, his previous hosts only ever sought him out when they had a favor to ask. From that point forward, Rin swore that she wouldn't do the same to him and would only rely on his power in absolute dire circumstances only.

Eventually the conversation drifted away from tailed beasts into Kushina complaining about Minato. At first it had been to lament the fact that he had gotten Hokage - when it was Kushina's childhood dream - but that had been in a joking manner. However, the conversation turned more somber as Kushina admitted she was lonely with Minato busy with his Hokage duties and her being unable to leave the village for missions.

"And if I do get missions, it's some stupid D rank mission. Who does Minato think I am, a genin?" Kushina ranted, waving her hands wildly in the air to enunciate her point.

"Why can't you leave the village for missions? Is Minato too overprotective?"

Kushina shot Rin a sympathetic look, hating to be the one to break the news to her. "It's because Konoha likes to keep their jinchuurikis safe within village borders." Kushina knew that would be enough for Rin to put together the pieces.

"So the same goes for me too then," Rin stated. Her tone of voice didn't give away a hint of how she was feeling and Kushina desperately wished to know how Minato's only female student was taking the information.

"But it wouldn't be so bad for you," Kushina insisted and continued to babble on to fill the silence. "I mean you're a medical ninja so I'm sure you'll be so busy at the hospital that you won't be bored at all. Plus you get to sleep on an actual bed everyday and not have to camp out on the cold, hard ground, you know!"

Kushina cut herself off when it was clear that Rin wasn't listening to her at all.

"Rin?" Kushina nudged her shoulder. The faraway look in Rin's eyes disappeared.

"I was just thinking," Rin began, biting the bottom of her lip. "Can you train me?"

"Train you?" Kushina repeated.

Rin nodded. "I want to become a jonin."

"What of your training with Tsunade? Did you not learn enough?"

"No, it's not that," Rin protested. "Most of what I learned is regarding medical ninjutsu and she even helped me improve my taijutsu. It's just that I don't think that her fighting style is suited for me."

Kushina nodded in agreement. Having watched Tsunade spar before, Kushina honestly couldn't imagine Rin, the sweetest member of Team Minato, crushing boulders or tearing up the landscape in a single punch.

"So what will you do?"

"That's what I came to you for," Rin admitted. "Can you teach me?"

"I know some fuinjutsu if you're interested…" Kushina offered. Rin was quick to accept.

_Some _was an understatement, Rin quickly found out, as Kushina dumped a pile of scrolls on her. At first Rin had been hesitant, knowing that all of the scrolls were clan secrets, but Kushina waved her off, stating that her clan was practically nonexistent so it didn't matter anymore. Of course there was a catch, Kushina would pawn off her future kid's fuinjutsu training to her. Rin wasn't even sure if she couldn't properly learn fuinjutsu in the first place, but she agreed to it nonetheless.

Day after day, Rin showed up at the doorsteps of Kushina's home, ready to discuss with her what she had read before. Not before long, Kushina passed her an ink brush and special sealing paper to start writing her own seals under her supervision.

In the first few attempts, the sealing exploded, covering her entire face with black ink. Out of desire to learn the fuinjutsu properly, but mostly to avoid having to scrub ink off of her face every time she failed, Rin had gotten to the point where she didn't make enough mistakes to have the seal blow up in her face. Rather, the seal just wouldn't work when Rin tried to activate it so she would retrace every stroke to figure out exactly where she went wrong.

By the end of the week, Rin was able to replicate an explosive tag from memory at an efficient speed. Along the way, Rin picked up some common sealing tricks that all jonin were aware of, such as the one that allowed ninja to seal weapons or objects inside of a scroll or the one to block off chakra control.

By the third week, Rin had managed to master recreating all of the common seals.

"Well now that you have the basics down, what you do with fuinjutsu depends on you now," Kushina told her. "Like Minato, for example, used the principles of fuinjutsu to develop his Hiraishin jutsu."

"Minato sensei developed that on his own?"

"Well I helped him of course," Kushina responded haughtily. "I mean where would the poor boy be without my help?" Rin let out a small giggle at Kushina's playful comment.

"Can you help me too?"

"Of course kid."

While Rin took the time to mull over what she could create with her newfound fuinjutsu knowledge, Kushina recommended improving her combat skills.

The first person that Rin sought out for that purpose was Gai, mainly for two reasons. One, Gai was the best at taijutsu among their generation and Rin definitely needed to keep her taijutsu skills sharp lest Tsunade demolished her if she found out Rin had been slacking. Two, Gai was the person to turn to if anyone wanted to know about Kakashi's wellbeing. The good thing was that Rin didn't even have to ask; Gai spilled all of that information on his own. Even if most of the so called information was just Gai ranting about how Kakashi kept rejecting his challenges.

Surprisingly, Gai was the one who recommended Rin to find Genma upon hearing that she wanted to improve her aim in weapon throwing. Of course that suggestion wasn't given without a very detailed account of how Genma once spit out the senbon from his mouth with such deadly accuracy that it took out an enemy's eye.

Cutting off Gai with a thanks, lest Gai launched into another story about Genma's abilities, Rin darted off in the direction of Konoha's market. If Rin was going to ask Genma for help, it wouldn't do if she didn't have the proper supplies.

Throwing senbons with accuracy was...hard. Unlike throwing kunais or shurikens, throwing senbons required a greater amount of accuracy due to its smaller and slender size. On top of that, the lighter weight called for Rin to change the amount of force that she put behind the throw so that the senbon would actually sink into the wooden post. Channeling her chakra into the needle helped with the speed and force of the throw and kept the trajectory straight in windy settings, but that was a waste of chakra. So Rin forced herself to practice without chakra, using her ten senbons so much that the tips of them had dulled.

Before Rin had the chance to seek out Genma, it was him who found her first. At first, Genma had been hiding in the trees, watching her target practice, before he suddenly spoke, catching Rin off guard.

Had Rin made the rookie mistake of not being aware of her surroundings?

"Hello, Genma," Rin greeted as she reached over to yank out the senbon imbedded into the wood.

"Gai informed me that you wanted to learn how to use the senbon? I didn't imagine that you would have already started."

"Yes," Rin admitted as her cheeks flushed red from realizing that the senbon expert had seen her pathetic attempts. "I wanted to try by myself before I sought you out for pointers."

"What level are you at now?" Genma asked, curiously eyeing the depth of the holes left behind on the target from where the senbon had pierced it. The holes were pretty shallow.

"I still don't put enough force behind it," Rin told him. "But I guess it's better than before. At least the senbon somewhat sticks to the target."

"And your aim is decent, I suppose," Genma mused as his brown eyes roved the distance between each hole in the wood, "But not good enough for your purposes."

"For my purposes?"

Genma raised a questioning eyebrow at Rin. "Do you not know what you can do with senbons?"

"Not really. I was just trying them to see if they were a good fit for me."

"So you don't know what your fighting style is?"

"I don't really have any offensive moves."

_And Rin still made it to chunin? _Genma questioned in his head. Sure, Rin had the intelligence and analytical mind of a chunin, but her physical prowess was something else. However, he supposed, being on a team with the prodigy of their generation and a combat eager Uchiha meant that Rin never really had to fight an enemy, especially since she was a medical ninja.

Genma inwardly sighed and decided that he would trouble himself to help the girl out. After all, Genma was grateful to the Yondaime for taking him under his tutelage as the Hokage's personal guard platoon, so he could return the favor by helping out his former student.

"Listen here…"

And listen she did. Genma explained the trick to throwing senbon with accuracy and deadly speed, before moving on to the potential damage that senbons can cause. As a smaller and much less common weapon, most ninjas tended to underestimate the power of the senbon. If there was one good thing about teaching Rin was that the girl was smart enough on her own.

All Genma needed to mention was piercing the enemy's vital points for Rin to understand its vast potential.

"Ah! So depending on my purpose, I can use senbon to aim at various points in the body, either to maim, kill, cut off their chakra flow, and so on. And if I coat the senbon with poison...then even the smallest scratches will have an affect on the enemy."

"Precisely." Genma had an extensive knowledge of the human body for a non medical ninja for this reason. And Rin's knowledge of poisons gave her an edge that Genma didn't have. An idea flickered in Genma's mind.

"Say...when you get the poison thing figured out, can you coat my weapons stash with it too?"

And the rest was history. Once Rin did figure out how to coat poison on senbons, then her kunais, she did the same with Genma's entire stash of weapons, save for the one senbon that was always in his mouth, but not before lecturing him on the deadly side effects of accidentally nicking himself. Just to be safe, Rin stocked him up with the antidote.

It wasn't long before Genma dragged his best friend, Raido, another peer from Rin's graduating class to have the same thing done to his weapons stash, plus a sword.

Rin happily obliged.

* * *

If Kakashi was a different man, he would have complained about how boring being in the Anbu was, but he wasn't so he kept his mouth shut as he placed on surveillance duty for the nth time. Barely an hour into his shift at watching the grainy footage of the village, Kakashi felt his eye itching to look at anywhere but the computer screen. Still, Kakashi took his duty seriously, no matter how miniscule of an assignment, and kept his eyes riveted onto the screen.

Plus Kakashi knew that his team was still wary of his commitment. There was no denying his prowess, as Kakashi single handedly beat Deer and Boar the first time Fox conducted a team spar, but it was clear that they had no idea how to handle a shinobi so young. Kakashi could tell all of the doubts that they had in their minds...would he be ruthless enough for an assassination mission? Did he have the attention span of a child?

This time, Kakashi was trying to pass their examination under Deer's watchful eye. So far, Kakashi gave Deer and Boar nothing to complain about to Fox.

Two months in, Kakashi was assigned to his first real mission outside of Konoha. Or rather, he was pulled into the mission rather than assigned as Kakashi tore off chasing the infiltrators after being pulled along by Fox. There was no time for him to get briefed on the mission, all he knew was that they weren't to escape by using any means necessary to stop them. With that in mind, Kakashi pumped more chakra in his legs, tearing off through the forest at such incredible speed that left the rest of the Anbu in dust.

Kakashi easily caught up with the first nin. In less than three seconds, Kakashi drew his sword and pierced it straight through the first nin's heart. Kakashi didn't stop to watch the dead body fall as he pulled out his sword. With his sword by his side, blood trickling down it, Kakashi continued forward, already spotting the second infiltrator ten meters away.

The second nin was ready to fight back and launched several kunais in an effort to slow down Kakashi. He dodged with ease, lifting his sword to parry off two of the kunais. Before Kakashi even had time to set his sword back down to his side, a large fireball was headed his way. With his right hand, Kakashi made the necessary seals to conjure a powerful water jutsu. The two jutsus crashed head to head, the vapor spreading throughout the area.

It didn't take long for Kakashi to pinpoint the second nin's location. Channeling chakra to the sole of his feet, Kakashi used it as an extra boost of speed as he propelled himself to land onto the same branch where the second nin was on.

Caught off guard by Kakashi's sudden appearance, fear was written all over the second nin's face as his trembling hands raised a sole kunai to defend himself. In under two seconds, the same kunai that was supposed to defend himself was lodged in his heart. Kakashi released the man's hand, letting him tumbling head first onto the ground.

Now for the third nin…

Once again, Kakashi tore off through the trees, his Sharingan picking up a foreign chakra signature in the distance. He didn't bother masking his chakra; Kakashi was gaining on the foreign nin and that nin knew it from the way his chakra fluctuated wildly like he was panicking.

He hopped down from the branches, landing gracefully into the clearing and was greeted with the sight of a young man holding a kunai to his own throat, hands shaking.

Committing suicide so that he won't be able to reveal information about his mission?

Too late. Right as the man finally gathered the courage to slit his own throat, Kakashi's Sharingan was spinning wildly, putting the man under an illusion. In the genjutsu, the man saw himself slitting his own throat, but in actuality, the man's knees buckled from beneath him and he crumbled to the ground, kunai tumbling out of his grasp.

Just as Kakashi hefted the man onto his shoulder, Fox dropped down into the clearing, along with two other Anbu members.

"Well done, Hound. Take him to T we'll dispose the other bodies." With a nod, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Back at the T&I department, Inoichi was able to get inside the man's mind in an instant. There were virtually no mental blocks in his mind which suggested that this man was chunin level at best.

Inoichi turned to the man standing in the corner. "If you were Kiri, why would you send a chunin level operative to infiltrate a village?"

"They're expendable," Kakashi answered without hesitation.

"Yes, but to send them knowing that Konoha will most likely capture them and get information from them?"

"I would presume that any sensitive village information have been erased from their memories."

"You're correct," Inoichi affirmed, staring down at the unconscious Mist nin in front of him. "But I found out the details of their mission."

"A warning," Kakashi stated. "What are they after?"

"The sanbi. I wasn't even aware that Konoha was in the possession of the sanbi." Even if Kakashi barely reacted to the news, the slight tightening of muscles around his jawline told Inoichi that Kakashi was very much aware of the existence of the sanbi in the village. Inoichi didn't press for details; he probably was sworn to keep it to himself.

"Come on," Inoichi called. "Let's go report this to the Hokage."

Predictably the first thing that Kakashi did after reporting to Minato sensei was to find Rin, even if Minato sensei assured him that Anbu would be watching over her. Kakashi felt the compelling need to see for himself, to see with his eye and Obito's eye, that Rin was still alive. A part of him had almost requested to be assigned to watch over Rin, but it made sense why Minato sensei hadn't assigned him. His chakra signature would be too recognizable to Rin and he didn't want to have to explain why he was stalking her.

Relief flooded through Kakashi upon seeing Rin working on a patient through the window of one of the hospital rooms. After making sure that Rin was safe and acknowledging the Anbu hiding in the trees, Kakashi took off to the training grounds.

He needed to get stronger so he could protect Rin from the Mist nins.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Sorry for any mistakes that I make throughout the story. When I'm writing, sometimes I don't really pay attention to what I am typing sometimes so I type really weird things lol. I try to go back and catch them all before I post, but I might have missed something or two. **

**Anyways, writing "fight" scenes isn't really my forte. I can see it in my head exactly how the fight plays out, but I have a hard time putting it into words, so sorry if this fight or any fight in the future turns out meh. I tried my best. **

**This is part one of two in the Blank Period. The Blank Period will span a total of three years because I need a time skip to develop Rin's nonexistent combat skills without boring you all with the details of her training + not magically her having moves that she never learned. As for Kakashi, in this Blank Period, he'll meet some important characters that will be crucial to the remainder of the plot. **

**As I am writing and thinking ahead to further down the plot, I'm thinking all of the techniques I want Rin to have will probably make her OP. Not OP in Naruto and Sasuke sense but OP enough to beat Part I Kakashi. To help combat that, I'm going to powerscale Kakashi as well, so by the beginning of Naruto, they will both be a lot more powerful than in canon. **

**Bonus question: can anyone guess who Fox might be? His identity will be revealed in the next chapter, but he's a character that we all know, so take a guess! He may or may not have been in the Anbu in canon, I'm not exactly sure. **

**As always, thank you for reading! Let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	5. Blank Period Part II

**Chapter Four: Blank Period Part II**

Countless missions and many surveillance hours later, Kakashi found that two and a half years had passed since he joined the Anbu. During his time with the Anbu, Kakashi sought out various members to train with and in the process of doing so, learned his way around all sorts of weapons, especially with swords. With Obito's Sharingan, Kakashi had been finally able to complete the Chidori, yet there were still a lot that he still needed to learn about the Sharingan. Unfortunately, the Uchiha clan was notoriously tight lipped about their precious dojutsu so there wasn't much information about the kekkei genkai save for the basics.

The real reason that Kakashi took note of exactly how much time passed was because Fox announced that he was retiring from the Anbu. For the first time, Kakashi saw the man unmasked and noted the wrinkles that had begun to form on his face. A smile graced Fox's lips, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Deer was the one to inquire his reasoning for retiring and Kakashi admitted that he was curious too. The Anbu had a turnover rate of less than one year, but for Fox to have stayed in the Anbu for almost ten years, which was no easy feat for anyone, and then to drop the bomb that he was retiring was surprising. Very few people served longer than Fox, and one of them was the Anbu Commander.

"Got a kid on the way," was all that Fox offered and that was enough for the three remaining members of his team to accept.

"So what will happen to the team?" This time it was Boar.

"Well I heard that you'll be reassigned to a different squad. Don't miss me too much, yeah? Listen to your new squad commander."

"I'll stop by at the Nara compound if that is ever the case," Kakashi commented offhandedly, earning a lighthearted chuckle from Fox.

"So you've known my identity all along?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I might have ran into you at Konoha's market once or twice and recognized your chakra signature. Good luck with your kid."

Fox smiled, a genuine one this time. "Shikamaru would be a good name, don't you think?"

With that, Fox exited the Anbu headquarters for the last time. Deer, Boar, and Kakashi watched him go before nodding towards each other out of mutual respect and understanding before parting ways. It was likely that it would be the last time they saw each other if their team was going to be split up.

At the assignment's desk, Kakashi was informed that he was assigned to be the Hokage's personal guard for the time being, which Kakashi found strange. Didn't Minato sensei already have a platoon to serve as his guards already?

Kakashi shrugged off the thought and reported for duty, slipping into the office through the window. Just like every time he did it, a kunai was thrown his way, which Kakashi easily dodged.

"Kakashi!" Minato chided. "How many times did I tell you to enter using the door?"

Kakashi shrugged in response because he honestly lost count. "I prefer unconventional methods. To catch enemies off guard."

They already had this conversation so many times that Minato just resigned to shake his head out of exasperation.

"I was assigned to be your personal guard."

"Ah, yes," Minato replied, digging through one of the drawers before coming up with a scroll. "I'm going to be leaving for a diplomat meeting tomorrow with the feudal lord tomorrow. I want you to lead two new Anbu members."

"Me?"

"Yes, I don't doubt your leadership qualities and I want to use this opportunity to see if you are capable of becoming a captain. After all, your captain retired today, did he not?"

Kakashi could only nod.

"I've arranged a meeting with your new teammates at Training Ground 4 in half an hour. I trust that you'll get along with them just fine. Now, don't be late."

Kakashi scowled. The one time that he had been late to meet Minato sensei, and that had only been because he lost track of the amount of time he spent at the memorial stone, and now it seemed Minato sensei was eager to hold it over his head forever.

He supposed it was retribution for always getting on Obito's case for arriving late.

Twenty five minutes later, Kakashi perched himself on one of the branches of a nearby tree as he spied two silhouettes approaching from the distance. Two small silhouettes. One looked to be about his height, while the other was shorter which suggested that the two couldn't be much older than himself, or perhaps were even younger than him.

When the two figures came into view, Kakashi almost wanted to groan at fate's cruel and twisted idea of a joke. Minato sensei expected him to mentor two Uchihas? And not ordinary Uchihas...one was the clan's pride and the other was the clan's heir.

Itachi and Shisui Uchiha.

Kakashi had heard of their reputations. The two kids were on par with him, almost breaking his record of being the youngest to be promoted to chunin, but one did beat his record at making jonin. Shisui had gained fame for his contribution during the Third Great War, much like Kakashi did, but for his body flicker technique.

Another Minato, the villagers called him, but any ninja could tell that their techniques were very different. Kakashi didn't know which was more deadly: having a ninja flash right in front of your face or being faced with multiple after images that didn't poof out of existence like shadow clones.

As for Itachi Uchiha, he certainly gained a reputation as the prodigal clan heir. And now he was here to prove it, after being promoted to chunin at age ten and into the Anbu at age eleven.

Perhaps that was why Minato sensei thought they could get along? If the three of them were what Obito called "kid geniuses."

Despite hardly being older than the Uchihas, the two of them listened intently as Kakashi briefed them on their assignment tomorrow. Kakashi went over formations, signals, and the two kids soaked up all of the information without a single question.

"Perhaps we should spar to get a feel for each other's battle styles," the younger of the two Uchihas suggested. Kakashi agreed. After all, he had a nagging feeling that this was going to be his new and very much permanent team…

And he was right. After returning from his diplomat meeting, Minato formally announced the three of them to become a permanent Anbu squad, named Team Ro, with Kakashi as squad leader.

Kakashi half expected the other two to question his authority, since it was clear that the two were most likely stronger than Kakashi himself. The only edge that Kakashi had on them was age, which didn't mean shit for shinobis, and experience in the Anbu.

Yet there was none of that. All of his concerns were unfounded as the two obediently accepted his leadership status. Shisui Uchiha even invited Kakashi to join them for training, stating that it would be beneficial for the team to be well accustomed to each others' fighting styles.

When Kakashi showed up at the Uchiha's favorite training spot, a clearing deep in Konoha's forest, he found Itachi Uchiha practicing using the sword, while Shisui tried to guide him with his limited knowledge from using the tanto.

"Wielding a tanto is not the same as wielding a sword, Uchiha san," Kakashi said, earning both Uchihas' attention. Kakashi then proceeded to correct Itachi's grip on the sword before showing him the basic katas that he went through when he first learned how to use a sword.

"Eventually you should become proficient to use a sword one-handed, but that's for the future. For now, try to get comfortable with a sword to the point where it becomes an extension of yourself."

Kakashi sparred with Itachi a couple of times, with swords and without. His swordsmanship needed some work, but his taijutsu skills gave Kakashi a run for his money. The match ended in a draw and Kakashi highly suspected that Shisui was even stronger than Itachi.

"I suppose we should become familiar with each other's arsenal of techniques," Shisui suggested.

As a sign of good faith, since that Kakashi was certain the Uchiha cousins were slightly wary of sharing all of their secrets with him, he went first. "I have mastery over all five changes in chakra natures. My wind is a bit weak, but I can do the basics."

"Our strengths lie primarily in fire techniques, though we are both proficient in water techniques as well. Genjutsu is our speciality." The naturally part of the sentence was left unsaid.

Well that was good. His genjutsu skills were meh at best. Above average, but not good enough for him to say that was his speciality.

"Hatake san." This time it was Itachi who spoke. "How much mastery do you have over your Sharingan?"

That certainly was a surprise. Not the fact that Itachi knew of his Sharingan - Kakashi figured it was a fact that most Uchiha conservatives were torn over - but rather that Itachi had asked how well Kakashi knew how to use the Sharingan in a manner that he was ready to offer his assistance.

Perhaps, Kakashi was reading the situation entirely wrong.

"Well, I suppose I can copy ninjutsu and see the opponent's moves before it happens. It's also been very helpful in seeing through genjutsu, but I'm sure that I'm barely scratching the surface with what it can do. After all, I try not to use it when I can help it."

"It drains a lot of your chakra, doesn't it?" Shisui deduced. "Still, that's impressive for you to have figured out all of that without guidance."

"Why don't we just cut right to the chase? What do you want? To take back the Sharingan? Condemn me for my amateurish use of the Sharingan?" Kakashi suggested, his mind running through all of the possibilities of why he was having a conversation about his Sharingan with two Uchihas.

"I believe that Shisui is implying that he wants to train you on how to use the Sharingan. If you'll let him, that is," Itachi interjected. Itachi tossed a brief glance towards Shisui, who nodded.

"Why?" Never in a million years did Kakashi expect these two to be willing to spill their clan secrets to an outsider.

"I am the sole earner for my family of three," Shisui began. "My family is a part of the branch family, very far removed from the main family. Uchiha Obito was the only one who was willing to lend his assistance when times were hard for my family, even if it meant he had to starve. And if Obito gifted you with his Sharingan, then the least I can do is train you to use it."

"And what does the main family think of you spilling clan secrets?" Kakashi purposely directed this question towards Itachi.

"What the main family doesn't know won't kill them," Itachi responded carefully. "In the Anbu, I am simply Crow. Not the Uchiha's clan heir."

"Well then," Shisui said, his eyes turning red, Sharingan spinning until three tomoes began a shuriken shaped pattern. "How much do you know about the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

* * *

Everyday without fail, Rin spotted a girl with long-brown hair loitering around the entrance of the hospital. It was a strange sight to see the Uchiha crest displayed proudly on her back, as it was well known that the Uchiha clan had their own medics, in an effort to preserve the secrets of their dojutsu. So what was an Uchiha doing here?

Perhaps to visit a non clan member, Rin mused and left it at that.

However, by the end of the week, Rin frowned when she saw that the girl was still pacing aimlessly at the entrance of the hospital. Had she still not gathered enough courage to go inside?

Rin decided it was time to approach her.

"Hello, Uchiha san." Her greeting seemed to jolt the Uchiha out of her trance. The Uchiha responded with an equally polite greeting of her own, no doubt a result of many years of conditioning on being polite.

Rin noted the brand new forehead protector. A fresh graduate?

"I couldn't help but notice that you've been here for the past week. Is there anything that you need? Someone that you want to see?"

"Ah well," the girl began, scratching the back of her neck nervously. "I don't know if it would be appropriate, but is there any way that I can learn medical ninjutsu?"

Upon seeing Rin's blank stare, the girl began to backtrack. "I mean it's totally fine if that's not an option. I would learn from the Uchiha medics, but they're a bunch of old hags that don't view me as part of the Uchiha clan. And my two genin teammates are like miles ahead of me and I just want to achieve something that they can be proud of, you know?"

Rin did know because she had gone through the exact same thing. With a Hatake and Uchiha on her team, it was natural that she would be overlooked. After all, no one ever heard of a Nohara clan, even if her mother had been a kunoichi. At least Rin had her medical ninjutsu to fall back, a small comfort to know that she'll always be better at it than her teammates. But the girl in front of her? She didn't even have that.

"Sure," Rin agreed. "I get off at five. Meet me at Training Ground 6?"

The girl nodded excitedly. "I'm Izumi Uchiha, but you can just call me Izumi!"

Rin smiled. "Rin Nohara."

Izumi's eyes widened. "You're Rin Nohara, Tsunade's apprentice? I've heard so many things about you."

Rin wasn't surprised; after all, she had risen up the ranks at the hospital to the point where her skills were only second to Tsunade's. Yet her lack of experience and young age barred her from reaching the highest position. Not that Rin wanted to, since she was a field medic. As soon as Rin achieved jonin status, she would request to field missions again.

Rin was excited to meet Izumi that afternoon. Everyone that Rin spent time with seemed to be her superior at something, whether it was ninjutsu, taijutsu, weapons mastery and so on. For once, it was a relief to be someone's superior.

As expected of a Uchiha, Izumi was already at the training ground, running through her katas. Before Rin even stepped into the clearing, Izumi paused, head turning to face her direction.

"You have excellent sensory skills for a genin," Rin complimented, digging through her pouch to pull out two scrolls, one blue and the other green.

"My mother says I am a sensor type," Izumi responded in kind. "What's that?" Her eyes fell onto the scrolls in Rin's outstretched hands.

"The blue scroll contains medical texts. If you want to become a medical ninja, then you need to have a thorough understanding of the human body. The green one is full of chakra control exercises. If you can't master them all, then you won't be able to perform medical ninjutsu."

Izumi's eyes widened as Rin tossed her the two scrolls. "You mean there's more to chakra control than walking on water?"

While Izumi looked slightly horrified as she opened the scroll, Rin was impressed that she had already mastered walking on water, especially since Izumi graduated after the war. It was no secret that under the Fourth's reign, genins weren't pushed as hard to become soldiers.

"The best medical ninja can emit chakra from all parts of their body."

"Oh wow."

"I understand if this too daunting for you," Rin told her, hands reaching out to retrieve the scrolls from Izumi's grasp. Much to her surprise, Izumi yanked the scrolls out of Rin's reach, cradling them to her chest tightly.

"I'll master it. Just wait and see," Izumi stated in an uncharacteristic arrogant tone.

Rin smiled. "Come find me when you have finished the two scrolls. Now-"

"Rin san!" Izumi interrupted, her eyes widening considerably of what looked like fear? In her eyes. "Three foreign chakra signatures, coming our way."

Rin frowned, closing her eyes to concentrate. Her eyes snapped open, out of shock. Though the enemies had suppressed their chakra signatures, she felt the faintest traces of foreign chakra. The amount of water nature present in the little of their chakra that Rin could sense felt so familiar.

So familiar…

"Mist nins," Rin hissed at Izumi. Without warning, Rin grabbed Izumi by the wrist and tugged her along.

"Ano, where are we going?" Izumi asked as Rin practically bolted out of the forest. And honestly, Rin didn't have an answer for her. The Hokage Tower had been her first instinct, but that meant leading the Mist nins through one of the busiest streets of Konoha, where most of the civilians worked.

No, Rin needed to go somewhere that wasn't too populated, but be able to get help at the same time.

The medic in her resisted the urge to stop and help the fallen Anbu soldiers as Rin sprinted past their prone bodies, but feeling a spike of chakra was more than enough for her to channel chakra to the soles of her feet to give her the extra boost. Besides her, Izumi mimicked the action, but the curiosity in her led her to keep glancing backwards, like she wanted to see the foreign nins. Rin tugged on her arm, harshly, pulling Izumi's attention away from their pursuers.

"We might have to fight," Rin stated grimly as she felt the foreign chakra gaining on them, even with their extra boost. There was no way they could outrun them forever.

"We're no match for them," Izumi protested.

"That's why you are going to go get help while I stall them." Rin was confident that the Mist nins wouldn't care to go after Izumi, since they could only be here for one thing. What she wasn't confident of was her ability to effectively stall them for a long enough period of time to actually make a difference.

Rin didn't inform Izumi of the doubt lingering in her mind.

"What? You're no match for three jonin level opponents. Come on, we'll go towards the Uchiha district."

"But there's a lot of civilians there," Rin pointed out.

"There's also a lot of capable shinobis," Izumi countered. "There's no time to argue, come on!"

They didn't make it. Rin let go of her grip on Izumi's hand to dodge to her left, the kunai cutting a few strands of her hair rather than being lodged in her shoulder. Rin turned, right hand reaching into her weapons pouch to retrieve a kunai, while her left hand hooked up three poisoned senbons between her fingers.

The three Mist nins jumped down from the branches, in the traditional Mist ninja attire, except the three of them donned masks.

"Come with me peacefully and we will spare the young one's life," the tallest man said.

Like the hell she would.

Rin flung the kunai in her right hand at the man who had spoken, who easily deflected. In less than a second, Rin followed up that throw with another kunai, this time with an explosive tag attached to the hilt. The Mist nin dodged right as the tag denoted, but it had served its purpose. To separate the three of them.

Izumi took advantage of the smoke from the explosion to slip closer to the lone Mist nin, while Rin channeled her chakra into the senbon, launching them at the other two Mist nins. The nin had been too slow to dodge the first senbon, the tip nicking his ear. He recovered just in time to dodge the second and the third senbon, but its job was done.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Rin made her way closer to the second nin, who was verbally berating his comrade for such a slow reaction. The second nin jumped back right as Rin threw her first chakra packed punch, eyes narrowing as he pulled out the sword strapped on his back.

A satisfying thump captured the second nin's attention, as his head slightly turned to witness his comrade collapsing.

Good, the poison was setting in.

She took advantage of his momentary hesitation and darted forward. The second nin recovered immediately, slashing his sword at her, only to be blocked by a kunai. Her left hand trembled underneath the force that the nin was putting behind the sword.

Rin wasn't going to last very long.

Right hand reaching out to pull out two more senbons, she flung them in the nin's direction. As expected, the nin jumped backwards while Rin took the opportunity to escape into the trees, quickly masking her chakra.

Her options were severely limited. From the little that she knew about Izumi's skills, neither of them had any powerful finishing moves. Close combat against a swordsman was a terrible idea, considering that Rin had absolutely no experience fighting against one. Her best bet was her senbons. She had the element of surprise the first time, but Rin was hard pressed to hope it would work a second time, not after making the second nin wary of her abilities.

She exposed her position when she tossed a kunai, to deflect the third nin's kunai that Izumi couldn't dodge in time. Upon that move, the second nin darted into the trees, forcing her back down into the clearing.

"Too bad I can't kill you or else this would be so much easier," the second nin scoffed before running through a series of hand seals which Rin recognized to be for some kind of water jutsu. Moments later, a water dragon emerged, charging straight at her.

Rin could dodge it, but from what she knew of that technique, it was possible for the user to change the trajectory of it and follow its target, so she needed to destroy it.

Tsunade's technique could punch through earth, rock, and trees, but could it punch through water?

Well guess Rin was about to find out.

When her chakra filled fist made contact with the water dragon's head, the jutsu exploded, raining droplets of water all throughout the clearing. The Mist nin looked mildly impressed, but immediately followed up with a wave of water. Ready for his attack, Rin pushed chakra to the soles of her feet and began to run up against the wave. Right as the wave was about to crash, Rin reached the top, firing three more senbons at the nin before diving towards her right to avoid a kunai to her face.

When the water settled down, Rin saw all three of her senbons hit her mark. The nin looked frozen as was the one that Izumi was facing against. Moments later, his eyes rolled to the back of his head before his body fell to the ground, face forward.

Three figures jumped down into the clearing, each of them surveying the prone body. Two of them flashed the shinobi code for "dead," while one confirmed that the foreign nin was still alive.

"Kakashi?" Rin asked, upon recognizing his distinctive wild white hair. The three figures removed their Anbu masks.

"Itachi kun? Shisui san? What are you doing here?"

"We were in the area when we felt a chakra spike," Shisui explained. "So we came to check it out. Imagine that, Mist nin in Konoha territory. Looks like we need to up our security."

"What happened to the Anbu who were supposed to be on duty?" Kakashi asked, eyeing the surrounding for any traces of them.

"The Mist nin had already taken care of them before they came after us," Rin informed him. Of course there was Anbu on her tail, that shouldn't be surprising, not with the many that watched over Kushina. Rin had expected the same security measures be placed on her.

"Izumi san, you are injured. Allow me to take you to the hospital," Itachi said. Rin watched with amusement as Izumi's face turned a few shades redder.

"Ahaha there's no need. Rin will heal me, right Rin?" The fact that Izumi dropped any honorifics when referring to her was only a testament of exactly how nervous she was.

Briefly, it crossed Rin's mind to decline and let Itachi take Izumi to the hospital, but Rin figured that it would be too cruel. Perhaps, on another occasion, when they were more acquainted.

Still, Rin had to fight a smile as Itachi patiently waited for her to heal Izumi, before stating that he would walk her home. Shisui wore an amused smile on his face, which said it all. Kakashi finished up sealing the two dead bodies before motioning Shisui to carry the unconscious man.

"Come on," Kakashi said as he walked past her, his shoulder brushing against hers briefly.

"Where?"

"Hokage Tower. Minato sensei would want to see with his own eyes that you are okay."

"Oh right." Rin hurried to catch up with Kakashi, falling into step besides him. Shisui gave Kakashi a mock salute before taking off towards the roof to avoid causing unnecessary panic among the villagers. Rin was surprised when Kakashi made no move to follow his comrade, but instead continued to stroll in the direction of the Konoha market.

Kakashi noted her absence besides him and cocked his head backwards, finding Rin just standing there, looking like she was lost in her own thoughts.

"Coming?" That had been enough to jolt Rin out of her thoughts and cause her to run to cover the distance between them.

Though silence pervaded between them for almost the entire trip to the Hokage Tower, there was an inexplicable giddy feeling in Rin's chest. Maybe she was just happy that Rin was finally able to walk side by side with Kakashi for once.

Yeah, it was a nice feeling.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**This is the first of many changes that I will be making to the story: Itachi and Shisui's age. In canon, Itachi is apparently 10 years younger than Kakashi, and Shisui looks like he is about 3ish years older than Itachi? In my story however, Itachi is 4 years younger than Kakashi, making Shisui 1-2 years younger than Kakashi. So currently:**

**Rin+Kakashi: 15 years old (almost 16)**

**Shisui: 14 years old**

**Itachi+Izumi: 11 years old**

**To the guest reviewer: Yes, Izumi, Shisui, and Itachi will appear in the story. As for the Uchiha Massacre (if it even happens at all)...we'll have to see :)**

**Question: Who are your favorite ships (canon or non canon)?**

**This is the end of the Blank Period. Starting from this chapter, I'm going to reveal the chapter name of the next chapter. Some of them are super obvious about what it will be about, while others can leave you guessing. If you want, leave me a review and I can let you know if your guess is correct!**

**Next chapter's name is The Awakening.**

**As always, thank you for reading. Feel free to let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	6. The Awakening

**Chapter Five: The Awakening **

The last thing that Kakashi expected after completing an S rank mission was an ambush. It was a running morbid joke among the jonins and Anbu of Konoha that S ranked missions were called that for a reason, the S stood for suicidal, yet for Team Ro - the most stacked team in terms of ability - that meant they got out with a couple of wounds, nothing too major, but severely chakra depleted.

And normally that wouldn't be too much of a hindrance for Team Ro, as their taijutsu skill was good enough for them to beat normal jonins, but the group that ambushed them weren't normal jonins. They were a group of S ranked missing nins of various origins, hired by some client that Team Ro undoubtedly pissed off during their slew of assasination missions to assassinate them. The handsome sum of money, plus the high bounties on their heads was more than enough of an incentive for them to attack.

When they attacked, Kakashi had about less than a quarter of his reserves left, which was slowly dwindling as Obito's Sharingan still greedily sucking up his reserves. Using his sharingan had been out of the question, that would only serve to drain his reserves at an exponential rate so Kakashi merely relied on his battle experience to predict the enemies' moves.

The Uchiha cousins were in slightly better condition that Kakashi, with about a third of their reserves left, but Itachi had suffered a grave arm wound during the completion of their mission. It hindered his movements and the enemies capitalized upon that, striking at his left side at every chance they got. Shisui tried his best to cover for Itachi, but the enemy nins noticed that and successfully launched an attack that separated the two Uchiha cousins.

Shisui was stalling, throwing a handful of shuriken and kunai at his enemy opponents. He vaguely registered the enemy insulting him, saying something along the lines of he was weaker than they had expected, but Shisui was too focused on layering genjutsu over the entire clearing to care.

The rowdy nin was the first to get caught in the genjutsu, evident as his attention was no longer fixated on Shisui. Instead, he turned towards his comrade and began attacking, causing a string of expletives to slip out of his mouth.

The cursing stopped as soon as the genjutsu took hold and the comrade switched from being on defense to offense.

Shisui lifted his right hand, placing two fingers in his mouth before whistling out the code for retreat. From the branches, Shisui could see Kakashi eyeing his enemies in suspicion as they turned on each other and retreated cautiously. Itachi took the opportunity to scramble away, having scored another wound, but he had been too careless. Itachi didn't notice the enemy nin diving after him, sword swinging to slice him in half. Lightning crackled, running all along the length of the sword.

Shisui's sharingan began spinning wildly as his eyes saw the outcome. Grabbing Itachi by the shoulder strap of his Anbu uniform, Shisui yanked him behind him right as the sword came down on the two of them. Shisui let out a grunt as he felt the sword digging into his side, the lightning chakra frying some of his nerves.

He attempted another genjutsu, although it was nowhere near as elaborate as his previous one, and the rogue Mist nin didn't seem to be affected in the slightest. Shisui managed to block the nin's next blow. Upon realizing that it was merely a distraction and that the nin's real target was Itachi, Shisui's body moved out of instinct and took the sword that was meant for Itachi.

Straight through the stomach.

Kakashi dove into the fray, tossing a kunai with an explosive tag at the end of it along with a smoke bomb. He grabbed Shisui by the shoulder, pulling him out of the nin's sword and grabbed Itachi by the wrist, before using the last of his reserves to teleport the three of them away from the battlefield.

Kakashi huffed from the exertion, slightly stumbling as he landed, knees buckling under Shisui's weight. Besides him, Itachi fared no better, face contorted in pain as his shaking hands reached in his weapons pouch for a roll of bandages. Using his right hand and his teeth, Itachi began to wrap up his arm.

They were still too close for comfort and too far away from Konoha, but Kakashi needed to do something about Shisui or else he would die before they could reach the village. Pulling out Rin's medical kit, the one that she gave him as a jonin gift, Kakashi began to pile on gauzes, both on Shisui's stomach and on his backside. The blood seeped through the gauzes at an alarming rate.

"Itachi, come help me," Kakashi ordered through gritted teeth as he placed even more pressure on Shisui's wound. Obediently, Itachi was immediately at Kakashi's side, his own wound halfway bandaged. Itachi took over pressing the gauzes over Shisui's wound as Kakashi rummaged through the medic kit for anything else of use.

"He's losing a lot of blood," Itachi informed Kakashi after a minute had passed.

Kakashi spared one glance at Shisui, noting his complexion getting paler and breathing becoming shallower by the second. He yanked the Anbu armor over his head, before taking off his undershirt. Ripping the shirt in half, Kakashi knotted the two ends together, using it as a makeshift bandage and tied it around Shisui's waist, as tightly as he could. After pulling back on his armor, he reached for Shisui's arm, swinging it over his shoulder while Itachi did the same on his other side.

"We have ten minutes to get him to Konoha's hospital before he bleeds out," Kakashi informed Itachi.

"But Konoha is twelve minutes away," Itachi said.

"Exactly." Nothing more needed to be said, using the last dredges of their chakra, the two men darted into the woods at an alarming speed. Every muscle in Kakashi burned, especially with Shisui's added weight, and he knew that his own body was reaching his limit. It was pure adrenaline that kept him on his feet, and continued to push him towards the direction of Konoha.

Itachi was determined to not let his cousin die. Beyond being family, Shisui was also a lot of things, his mentor and best friend. Itachi couldn't imagine a future without Shisui with him, constantly seeking him out for missions or being his sole confidant when Itachi wanted to complain about his father's actions.

Relief had never coursed through them so strongly before when the two men saw Konoha's gates in the distance. Seeing their destination so near spurred the two of them to quicken their pace even further, crossing into the village by the nine minute mark.

The chunin on duty attempted to stop them, but Kakashi and Itachi deftly ignored them and continued to make a beeline to the hospital. The chunin took the hint and one of them darted off to inform the Hokage of the situation.

Ignoring the horrified, curious, and shocked stares from shinobi and civilians alike as Kakashi and Itachi carried a dying Shisui between them through the streets, they pushed forward. The crowd parted for them, understanding the gravity of the situation. A medic nin in training emerged from the crowd and attempted to stop the blood flow on their way to the hospital.

Barely two steps into the hospital, Kakashi felt his knees giving out from underneath him. The tiled hospital floor was rapidly approaching...before everything went dark.

* * *

The hospital erupted into chaos as three Anbu members dragged themselves into the hospital, leaving behind a trail of blood. The man in the white hair had been the first to collapse face first onto the ground. Itachi Uchiha stumbled at the loss of Kakashi's support on Shisui's other side.

Two nurses came wheeling a bed towards them. Itachi was separated from Shisui, as the two nurses lifted Shisui onto the bed. Gari, the head doctor of the critical condition department, appeared checking for a pulse as the nurses wheeled Shisui towards one of the operating rooms. Itachi lumbered after them, ignoring the protests from the nurses that he needed to get his arm checked out.

"Dead on sight," Gari announced, hands moving to already take off his blood stained latex gloves.

_Dead? _No it couldn't be, Itachi tried to convince himself, but Gari's words continually rang in his ears over and over again. Itachi felt his Sharingan activating against his own will, the three tomoes morphing into a different pattern, allowing Itachi to see the world with more clarity. Allowing him to see Shisui's dead body with more clarity before Itachi promptly passed out on the hallway floor.

Rin overheard the commotion and appeared just as Gari announced that the Uchiha was dead on sight. Right as the nurses began to wheeling Shisui in the direction of the morgue, Rin barked orders at them to move him to the operating room and set up a blood transfusion stat. Shoving aside Gari, ignoring his protests about how she was violating hospital protocol, Rin's hands glowed green as she rapidly mended the ruptured blood vessels.

She knew she had approximately five minutes. Five minutes until brain damage began to occur. Those incompetent nurses were nowhere to be seen by the time Rin was done repairing all of the damage to Shisui's blood vessels; instead it was Izumi who appeared with a single bag of type A blood. Immediately, Izumi worked on hooking up the blood transfusion while Rin began to perform CPR, hoping to get his heart pumping again once blood entered his system.

Two minutes later, his heart was stayed still.

"There's not enough blood," Izumi informed her as the first bag was almost drained.

Rin stuck out her left arm in response. "I'm type A."

Izumi looked hesitant to follow through, but stuck the needle in Rin's arm anyways and began drawing blood. Rin hardly noticed as her right hand was still trying to do everything that she could to get his heart started again.

Civilian methods of jumpstarting his heart wasn't working so Rin sent a jolt of chakra through Shisui's system, hoping that it would be enough. It wasn't. Rin tried again, only to end up with the same result.

By the time that Rin had approximately forty five seconds left until brain damage began to occur, she was running out of options. She had gone through every method in the many medical texts at how to restart a heart, but nothing was working. At this point, most doctors would have declared Shisui to be dead, but Rin wasn't giving up.

"Should I get the AED?" Izumi asked.

"No time," Rin replied, hating herself for not remembering about the device that civilian doctors used. The AED sends a shock wave through the body and so using the same principle, if Rin added lightning nature to the chakra she sent through Shisui's body, it should work. Theoretically.

Rin didn't have time to contemplate on all of the things that could go wrong, like if her lightning nature proved to be too strong for the human body to handle. Twenty seconds left, it was Rin's final option to save him.

_Thump._

It was barely there, but as seconds passed, the thumping became more prominent and consistent. Relief coursed through her body as her hand glowed green, closing the stomach wound completely. Izumi's hands joined hers, speeding up the process. A few tears slid down Izumi's cheeks.

"We almost lost him," Izumi whispered.

Rin burned through the remaining of her chakra reserves, before she unlocked another reservoir. The glow on her hand was even stronger than before.

When the wound finally closed, Rin resisted the urge to collapse onto the floor, partly out of exhaustion and lightheadedness from the blood she gave to Shisui. Rin unhooked the blood transfusion, deeming that Shisui's blood amount was more than enough to pull him through the next twenty four hours, the most critical hours of his life.

"Put him in ICU," Rin ordered. "Make sure someone is monitoring him for the next twenty four hours."

Izumi nodded and left the room to make the appropriate preparations while Rin stumbled out of the operating room. Apparently, fate didn't want her to catch a break as Rin registered that Gari was marching towards her, the anger written all over his face. Rin attempted to act busy, grabbing the nearest nurse to inquire about the other Uchiha's condition, but to no avail. Rin felt a hand on her shoulder, his grip tightened and whirled her around to face him. Behind her, Rin could feel the nurse muttering a quick apology before scrambling away in haste.

"How dare you disobey my orders!" Gari roared, his voice booming throughout the hallway. If Rin had been a bit braver, she might have snarked at him to keep his voice down since they were still in the hospital. "If it wasn't for the fact that you were Tsunade's pupil, you would have never gotten to where you are right now."

Of course, Gari had to bring his personal vendetta against her into this.

"I saved his life," Rin countered.

"You act so arrogant right now, but what if you hadn't succeeded? The Uchiha clan will be out for my head."

"Well you deserve it," Rin retorted, without a single ounce of compassion in her voice. "You're the one who left him to die. Even if I failed, at least I tried!"

"Oh your success has made you gutsy now, huh? Just you wait, not even being the Fourth Hokage's pupil will be enough to save you from your punishment. Now-"

Rin didn't care and didn't bother to listen to what Gari was saving. Not when another medic bursted out of the neighboring operating room, saying something about Itachi Uchiha and dying in short clipped fragments. However that was enough to propel Rin into action, grabbing the medic by his arm, dragging him back into the operating room alongside her.

From somewhere behind her, Gari was still yelling at her, screaming orders most likely, but frankly, Rin didn't give a damn. If it had been up to him, both Uchihas would most likely die.

"What's wrong?" Rin asked as she automatically channelled chakra to her hands, hovering them over Itachi's body.

"His chakra levels keep draining and we don't know how to stop it," the medic explained hurriedly. "At this rate, his chakra will be completely depleted."

Rin frowned as she ordered for the medic to fix up Itachi's arm. Closing her eyes in concentration, she reached out into the room to feel for Itachi's chakra. Like any other shinobi, Itachi's chakra was concentrated at his core, with chakra running evenly through his network. Except, it seemed that more chakra than normal was flowing upwards. Locking into that feeling, Rin found the particular chakra pathway that was sucking his chakra away.

His eyes.

Rin's eyes snapped open as she lifted two fingers to Itachi's eye, prying open his eyelids to confirm her suspicion. As expected, his Sharingan was still activated albeit it was in an unfamiliar pattern. An advanced form of the Sharingan? Even if that was the case, Itachi was an Uchiha, which meant he should be able to deactivate it.

There were two options. Either Rin found a way to wake Itachi up and be able to orient him to the point where he could deactivate his eyes himself, or she would have to forcibly deactivate it. Judging from Itachi's low chakra levels, the former wasn't an option.

That meant…

"You," Rin ordered, making the younger medic's attention snap to her. "Bring Izumi Uchiha here." With a nod, the medic practically bolted from the operating room, understanding the gravity of the situation. Rin took over healing Itachi's arm wound, noting the bacterial infection, while constantly monitoring his chakra levels.

There wasn't enough to keep him alive for Rin to figure out a way to deactivate his Sharingan.

But she would be damned if she let him die on her.

Rin activated her strength of hundred seals, letting the black markings run down her face before extending to her torso and limbs. Propping Itachi up into a sitting position and maneuvering his body so that his back was now facing her, Rin placed both of her hands on his shoulders.

Using the precision that she was known for, Rin manipulated her chakra in her hands to match the flow of Itachi's own chakra before pushing her chakra through. She could practically feel his discomfort, but to be fair, Rin hadn't really mastered chakra transfer quite yet, but it was working. Itachi's Sharingan greedily latched onto her chakra and began to drain it, at an alarming rate.

Just like the Sharingan drained Kakashi's chakra at an exponential rate, Itachi's was doing the same to her because they weren't Uchihas. Even with her vast reserves, courtesy of constantly storing away Isobu's chakra, Rin knew that she could keep this up for eight minutes max before Itachi burned through her reserves.

In the next moment, Izumi bursted into the operating room, fear for her childhood friend written all over her face.

"Izumi, I need you to concentrate," Rin ordered her. Wiping the stray tears off of her face, Izumi nodded, standing a bit taller in a show of her resolve. "How do you force someone to deactivate a Sharingan?"

Izumi frowned. "Usually, when Uchihas first unlock their Sharingan, they can't control it, so their parents or someone with a more developed Sharingan can use their eyes to force them to deactivate it."

Rin nodded. "Go get me the most advanced Sharingan user. You have six minutes before he dies."

"Hai!" Izumi's voice quivered. With one last glance at Itachi, Izumi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Now that Izumi was gone, Rin placed her entire attention, constantly molding and manipulating her chakra in hopes that her chakra would feel less intrusive to his system. By the fourth minute, Rin managed to figure out the exact mix of Itachi's chakra and worked to imitate it.

Six minutes had passed and Rin feared the worst. Was Izumi not able to find someone in time? In another minute, Rin would burn through the last of her reserves. She still had Isobu's massive pool of chakra to tap into, but she wouldn't be able to utilize her perfect chakra control on such a massive quantity. If she tried channelling that through Itachi, it might end up killing him before chakra depletion did.

Thirty seconds left, a man that Rin recognized to be the head of the Uchiha clan barged into the operating room, with Izumi following closely behind.

"I need you to use your Sharingan to deactivate his," Rin told him calmly.

"What happened to my son?" Fugaku demanded. "What are those black markings? What are you doing to him?"

"With all due respect Uchiha san, your son has approximately eight seconds to live, so please do as I say." Grudgingly Fugaku allowed his black eyes to bleed red, forming three tomoes before spinning into a pattern that looked vaguely similar to Itachi's, except the black was thinner and the three tomoes were still present.

Nodding at Izumi, Rin released her connection with Itachi, allowing the black markings to recede. Ignoring the wave of exhaustion that hit her, Rin worked to pry Itachi's eyelids open in his right eye while Izumi did the same to his left.

"The Mangekyo," Fugaku whispered in awe before a burst of chakra was emitted into the room. The redness in Itachi's eyes slowly faded before returning to its normal black color. Rin gently laid Itachi back down on the bed.

"Thank you for your assistance," Rin said, addressing Fugaku. Fugaku gave a head nod in response, mouth opening like he wanted to say something but refrained when Rin swayed on her feet.

"Are you alright?" Izumi asked. Rin waved off her concern.

"His Sharingan sucked more chakra than I anticipated. I'll be fine after I rest. Get an antibiotic shot for Uchiha san; his wound was infected." Izumi nodded, eyes filled with concern as she wordlessly left the room.

Rin ambled her way out of the operating room, too tired to bother kicking out Fugaku. Luckily this time there was no Gari around to attack her the moment she appeared. With a hand pressed against the wall, Rin slowly made her way in the direction of her office as black spots began to dance around in her vision.

By some miracle, Rin successfully reached her office. After shutting the door behind her, Rin promptly collapsed onto the cot. And proceeded to sleep through the entire day.

* * *

"Shisui!" Itachi woke up with a jolt. Scrambling, Itachi pushed himself into a sitting position, eyes already drinking in his surroundings. On the bed next to him, Itachi registered Kakashi's presence, but Shisui was nowhere to be seen. His hand reached to pull the needles out of his arm, but Mikoto entered the room at the moment. Horrified at what she was seeing, Mikoto immediately rushed to Itachi's side, placing her hands over his, stopping his movement.

"Kaa san." Itachi acknowledged. Mikoto reached for the pillow, propping it upright. Itachi allowed himself to relax upon seeing the no nonsense expression on his mother's face.

"You had me so worried," Mikoto chided. "The least you can do is to stay still so you can recover properly."

"Ahhh Uchiha san, Itachi isn't the type to stay still," Kakashi interjected. A grimace graced his features as Kakashi pushed himself into an upright position, the blanket pooling in his lap. If Mikoto was annoyed that an outsider was interrupting their conversation, she didn't show it.

"Shisui, he's-" Itachi struggled to find the words.

"Safe. Izumi chan informed me that he's out of critical condition," Mikoto informed Itachi. "Don't worry about him. Both of you need to focus on recovering."

"Safe?" Itachi echoed. "But the medic declared dead on site."

Kakashi's visible eye widened a fraction of an inch; this was the first that he was hearing this. Then again, he had practically collapsed the moment he stepped foot into the hospital.

"Izumi told me that a young girl was able to save him. She saved you from chakra exhaustion. Your father didn't want to admit it, but he's grateful to the girl, even if she broke a lot of regulations in doing so. However, that's for the council to decide."

"What happened?" It was Kakashi who asked. "Why is she in trouble?"

"There's a lot of different rumors on what exactly happened, but the girl disobeyed her superior's orders. And apparently, she didn't follow medical procedure when she was saving Shisui's life."

"Her superior's orders to let Shisui die?" Itachi questioned through gritted teeth. "Who is he? I'll set him straight for her." Itachi wasn't the type to threaten a person, but it pissed him off that the superior had so blatantly dismissed Shisui's condition, to pronounce him dead without even trying. And he was pissed that their savior was currently in hot water with her higher ups, all because she tried to save his life.

"Do you know the girl's name?"

Mikoto shook her head. "Izumi chan knows, ah there she is."

Izumi's timing was flawless; she entered the room at that moment, looking curiously between the occupants at the fallen silence.

"I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"No," Mikoto assured her. "In fact, Itachi was just inquiring the name of the medic who saved Shisui's life."

"Ah yeah. Rin Nohara, the girl that was with me when you saved us from Mist nins, a while back, remember her?"

Itachi nodded, filing a mental note to express his gratitude for saving both of their lives.

"Rin is so cool," Izumi continued, not really caring if anyone was listening. "Nobody really liked Gari to begin with; ever since he got promoted, he acts like he's better than everyone else. Seeing Rin snap at him was the best thing ever. And the way that Rin single handedly revived Shisui was so amazing. She was donating blood to him while she tried to restart his heart. I've never seen anything like that before, using lightning nature to shock his heart into restarting."

"Lightning nature?" Mikoto questioned. "Wouldn't that fry his system?"

Izumi shrugged. "I think Rin's affinity with lightning is so weak that it didn't do much damage. I think some of his chakra networks might have been affected, but that can be fixed."

"I heard that she saved me too," Itachi prodded.

"Your Sharingan was still activated and wouldn't turn off. It was sucking away at your chakra reserves and at the rate you were going, you would have died from chakra depletion. Rin transferred her chakra to you to stall for time while I went to find Fugaku san so he could deactivate your sharingan. It took up the rest of her chakra reserves, so Rin's still recovering, last I checked."

"Please invite the girl over for dinner once she is fully recovered," Mikoto instructed. "You are also invited, Izumi chan."

Izumi frowned. "I'm not sure when that will be. Rin will need to appear before the council to be charged for her actions. Gari knows that he won't get anywhere with taking it up to the head of the hospital, so it brought it before the council, where the older geezers are more likely to agree with him."

"Don't worry about it. I will speak to the other clan heads on the behalf of Nohara san." After all, that was the least that Mikoto could do for the girl. She had faith that the Fourth Hokage wouldn't let anything happen to her, but the more support he had, the easier time he had.

A few hours later, Kakashi snuck out of the hospital through the open window while Itachi had snuck to visit Shisui. Despite being forced on bed rest due to chakra exhaustion, the two of them left clones albeit weak ones, in their stead.

Kakashi paced back and forth in front of the Nara compound, wondering if it was appropriate to just waltz in. He didn't think so, but there was also no one in sight, who could bring him in. Kakashi settled for whistling out an Anbu code, one that confirmed his identity as Hound, on the off chance that Shikaku Nara was nearby. Perhaps cloud watching or playing shogi on his patio.

He kicked a small pebble with his right foot as he waited. During the next three minutes, Kakashi contemplated his next move if no one showed up. Would he just enter the compound or would he try to find Shikaku later? But Shikaku did invite the team to visit him anytime...or had those words just been out of courtesy?

Kakashi cursed his overactive mind and figured there was no harm in trying. Only to turn around to see that Shikaku had snuck up to him. Instinctively, he backed up two steps, putting some distance between him and the intimidating man.

"Took you long enough to come visit," Shikaku grunted. "Come on."

Kakashi followed Shikaku to his house, taking a seat on the patio while Shikaku muttered something about making tea. He eyed the shogi board next to him, the pieces already set up for a new game and briefly wondered if Shikaku just wanted him to play a game of shogi. Was it bad that the first time Kakashi appeared was to ask him for a favor?

"Here." Kakashi accepted the tea with a thank you, holding the warm mug between his hands to humor the man. It wasn't like he was going to drink it in front of Shikaku, not if it meant he would have to take off his mask. Shikaku merely shrugged, not seeming to care as he took a sip from his own mug.

"So what gives? You must be desperate for something if you tried to find me here."

"I have a favor to ask."

Shikaku sighed. "Don't we all? Shoot kid. I'll hear you out only because you didn't cause me any trouble while you were on my team."

And Kakashi did, telling him everything that he knew from Mikoto and Izumi as well as overhearing some of the hospital staff's gossip. At one point, Kakashi had confronted a nurse to clarify what he overheard, but she had been too tongue tied to give him coherent information.

Shikaku nodded in appropriate intervals while his gaze were fixated on the clouds that floated above them. A nice, cloudy day and Shikaku would have let his mind wander to guess the shapes of the clouds if it wasn't for the white haired nin.

"So you want me to make a biased decision based on incomplete information?" Shikaku questioned, head turning so that his gaze rested on Kakashi.

"Yes."

Well at least the kid was gutsy enough to follow through, Shikaku mused. There was a lot more to Kakashi than Shikaku originally thought.

"Well I'm not going to do that," Shikaku told Kakashi honestly. "As a trusted advisor to the Hokage, I can't make biased decisions like that. However, if all that you've said is true, then I am sure that your comrade won't be in any trouble. Besides, there's another way you can help her besides asking me for a favor."

"How?"

"The council is comprised of prominent clan heads and higher ups in some of the shinobi divisions in Konoha. You realize that the Hatake clan's seat in the council has been empty since your father died, right?"

When Kakashi shook his head, Shikaku sighed. Clearly no one bothered to explain anything to him; perhaps they thought Kakashi was too young to be on the council. And well, Kakashi wasn't the type to express an interest in being on the council to begin with. Most days, Shikaku found council meetings to troublesome himself.

"Does it still count if I'm the only member of the clan though?" Kakashi pointed out.

"Hypothetically, there are still some distinct relatives wandering around...the council can't refute that. It might also help that the Fourth Hokage likes you and most of the clan heads like you because you've dragged one of their members back from death sometime or another. But that's just what I think."

"I understand. Thank you, taichou."

"None of that. I'm no longer your taichou. I heard you were leading your own platoon now?"

Kakashi nodded and told him about his new team, making sure to gloss over any details that would reveal their identities. Of course, nothing got past Shikaku.

"They wouldn't happen to be the same people that your comrade risked her career to save, would they?"

Kakashi's silence told Shikaku everything that he needed to know.

"Welp, you better get going if you want to guarantee yourself a seat on the council tomorrow."

Shikaku smiled as the boy immediately disappeared in a puff of smoke, so much without a word of goodbye.

_Kids these days, how troublesome._

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! In the very early, early drafts of this story, this was supposed to be the opening scene for this story, but I decided to give some background. But technically this is the first chapter that starts the "actual" story, so I'm super excited to share the following chapters with you as well because well, the plot is beginning. :) **

**The semester is going to begin for me next week, so for the last couple of days, I'm going to be writing as much as I possibly can so I can have content to post since I am terrible at keeping up with writing during the semester lol. **

**Thank you to both of my guest reviewers! I can't reply to you individually, so I hope you are reading this. **

**TBNRkurama: KakaRin is a confirmed ship in my story, but it will be a slow burn. As for the rest of the pairings, thank you for the suggestions! As for your plot suggestions, I will take them into consideration. Thanks for taking the time to let me know!**

**Anonymus: To answer your question, I was really going for Catalyst Kakashi to be equally strong with Catalyst Rin, but I think Rin will probably beat him in a one to one fight (further down the line when I introduce more of her skills) simply because she has a larger chakra pool. Not to say that Kakashi won't be badass in this story because he will. **

**It honestly irked me in the series that they had to downplay Kakashi's skills so that Naruto and Sasuke could have a chance to shine, so this story will be his redemption lol. And yes, Team 7 will appear in the story further down the line, but they won't be the focus of the story. **

**If anyone wants to take any guesses at what the next chapter will be about, the title is Newfound Respect.**

**Thank you for reading. Feel free to let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	7. Newfound Respect

**Chapter Six: Newfound Respect**

Never in her life did Rin despise the hospital "policies" or so they called it more than in that moment. It was no wonder that Tsunade didn't have any interest in staying in the hospital and had chosen to be a field medic for most of her shinobi career. At least there wasn't anyone like Gari breathing down her back for violating medical procedures out on the battlefield.

Izumi had been the one to inform Rin about her presence being required before the council later that afternoon. That certainly hadn't been news that Rin had fathomed waking up to, but that was expected. She had put it off long enough, well "long enough" by Gari's standards. He certainly was itching to see her downfall and well, Rin wasn't all that concerned.

Perhaps she was getting ahead of herself, but if Rin could train herself to use medical ninjutsu after becoming Isobu's host, then this was practically nothing.

When it was exactly three o'clock in the afternoon, Rin strolled into the council room, where all of the clan heads and other prominent members of Konoha were sitting, with Minato sensei at the head of the table. His Hokage hat was placed on the table in front of him.

Upon seeing her arrival, Minato called the session into effect, starting with the rise of all of the members seated around the table. While each person present repeated an oath, promising that they would remain unbiased, Rin took the time to figure out who was present.

Hyuuga. Uchiha. Yamanaka. Aburame. Inuzuka. Nara. Sarutobi. Akimichi. Danzo, head of the Root division. The Anbu commander, still donning his Wolf mask. The two elders of Konoha. And there were three more people that Rin didn't recognize.

And Kakashi?

Kakashi was nonchalantly reciting the oath, as if he had done it numerous times and been there all along. However, judging from the brief curious stares that some of the other clan gave Kakashi, Rin wagered that it was the first time that he was here.

She didn't have time to contemplate on the matter any further as Minato ordered the council to be seated. Rin remained standing as Minato motioned to Wolf, who stood up, opening a scroll.

Then one by one, Wolf began to read off the list of charges placed against her, stumbling slightly over the pronunciation of some complex medical terms. While the general council had a vague idea of what Rin was charged for, she understood the underlyings words behind Gari's accusations.

"Perhaps it would do us well if Nohara san could explain to us in common terms," Shikaku Nara suggested. Even with high IQ scores, the wording and medical terminology had stumped him and he was sure it stumped everyone else in the room as well. Plus, it would give the girl a chance to explain herself.

"Who is to say that her interpretation won't be biased?" Hiashi Hyuuga interjected, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned back into his seat.

Ignoring the Hyuuga's jab, Rin wasted no time explaining to the council what Gari charged her for. "I'm charged with multiple violations of the hospital's policies and medical procedures. First, I disobeyed an order from my direct superior in my act to save Shisui san's life. Second, I used an unorthodox method in the process of restarting his heart, by sending lightning nature chakra through his system which may or may not have unknown repercussions. Third, the risky procedure was done without the consent of a family member which is a violation of Standard 24. On top of that, as Shisui san belongs to a prominent clan, especially of the Uchiha, it is custom that he is only to be treated by clan doctors.

"The same goes when I treated Itachi san as I inadvertently stumbled upon clan secrets in the process of treatment. Fourth, I ignored orders from my direct superior a second time. In both instances, any use of medical equipment or supplies would be considered theft since it wasn't authorized, so I stole one bag of Type A blood, an antibiotic shot, two IV bags, two hospital beds, two heart monitors, among others. That's all."

The Hyuuga was wisely silent.

"And what do you have to say in your defense?" Shikaku prompted.

Rin shrugged. "They're alive."

"Is that all?"

"What else?" Rin responded. "I saved the lives of two shinobis that would have otherwise be lying in the morgue room right now. Sure, those whose break the rules are scum, but those who let their comrades die are worse than scum."

Though hardly noticeable, Minato and Kakashi beamed with pride upon hearing those words come out of her mouth.

"That's a foolish ideology," Danzo cut in.

"Is that so?" Rin murmured. "Perhaps that way of thinking is the reason why you are isolated to the dark depths of the Foundation. Your men owe no loyalty to you, which is why you have to place a seal on their tongue to prevent them from betraying you, isn't that correct?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Danzo vehemently denied. "And we're here to talk about your case, not to falsely accuse your superiors of wrongdoing."

"In that case, please raise your hand if you have an opinion to express or any questions to ask," Minato said, calling the council back into order, mentally promising himself that he would look into Danzo's activities.

"Did you think about the repercussions if you failed to keep them alive? Potentially, the political chaos that would ensue if you caused the death of the clan heir?" Choza Akimichi.

"I am a field medic; I don't think, I just do. Either they have a hundred percent chance of dying if I do nothing or there is a possibility that they can live if I try. Clan politics be damned." Minato shot her a reprimanding look for her language, but Rin shrugged it off. Everything about this trial was just a waste of time and the level of stupidity of Gari's accusations combined with the questions that she was receiving was mind boggling. If clan politics and diplomacy contained this level of stupidity, then Rin was glad that she wasn't apart of a clan or born into a noble family.

"And your credentials?" Wolf.

"During the Third Great Shinobi War, I was placed on Team Minato to serve solely as the team's medic. In the last seven months of the war, I was stationed at Kyoshi Pass as part of their medical team."

And the questions went on and on. It was like the council wanted Rin to relay every detail of her past, as if they didn't have access to her files beforehand. When the Hyuuga inquired about the details of the eye transplant that Rin had performed on Kakashi, Rin snapped.

"This is stupid and completely irrelevant to the matter at hand," Rin snapped at the council. "The facts of the case are that I broke the rules and the Uchihas are still alive. Now do whatever you want because frankly I don't give a damn anymore." With that, Rin stormed out of the council room, slamming the door behind her.

Minato sensei were surely admonish her later for her actions, but at least she was free. The hospital and her house were the first two places that they would look if they wanted to find her, so Rin opted to head to the memorial stone instead. She needed Obito's comfort and strength at the moment and she wanted to hide from reality, just for a little while.

Back in the council room, all of the occupants of the room fell silent at Rin's outburst. The few that knew her, although vaguely, had been under the impression that Rin was a calm, level headed girl, so her display of anger had taken them aback.

"Her insubordination is getting out of control," Danzo commented through gritted teeth. "Perhaps, you were a failure as a sensei, Minato."

A warning look from Hiruzen kept Minato's mouth shut as he had been about to defend his only female student. Yet as Hokage, Minato needed to remain strictly objective during council meetings.

"If I may interject," Fugaku began, "It is true that the Uchihas prefer to have clan medics heal our own members. In the process of healing two of our members, I am sure that Nohara san had stumbled clan secrets. However, her actions have saved two highly esteemed members of the Uchiha clan. Not only will my son and Shisui be forever indebted to her, the entire Uchiha clan will extend our gratitude towards her."

Shikaku's eyes widened slightly upon hearing Fugaku's spiel. All of what Fugaku had said was true, but there was an underlying threat beneath his words. _If you mess with her, you'll have to get through the Uchihas first. _

Shikaku fought a grin. To have one of the most powerful clans backing her was no easy feat.

"To suspend her duties as a medic would be unwise," Hiashi added, seemingly not wanting to be one upped by their rival clan. "Nohara san has healed many members of the Hyuuga clan and I believe that the same could be said for most clans of Konoha."

The majority clan heads could be seen nodding their heads in agreement.

"The poison she developed has been critical to the Aburame's success in winning key battles during the war."

"Is that the case or are you just saying that?" Koharu questioned.

"The clan does not like to advertise the fact but credit is given where credit is due," Shibi replied.

"Like mother, like daughter," Homura commented. "Her disobedience is oddly reminiscent of her own mother's, isn't it? Next thing you know, Nohara san will abandon Konoha for another land."

"That's enough Homura," Hiruzen cut in. "The girl is not the same person as her mother." Within all of the members in the council room, only four of them knew all of the details concerning Yua Nohara. The clan heads briefly knew of the woman, but as she was ten years their senior, they weren't privy to many details. All they knew was that she was one of the best kunoichis in her generation, then people simply stopped mentioning her name.

"I believe that we should end the discussion here and just vote," Minato interjected in an attempt to diffuse the tension in the room. Admittedly, he was curious about Rin's mother, but that was something he could ask the Sandaime about, after the council meeting ended.

"All those who believe that Rin should be stripped of her status as a medic, please raise your hand." Three hands went up in the air, belonging to Danzo and the two Konoha elders.

"And those who believe she should retain her current position?" All those who represented the council as clan head as well as the Anbu commander raised their hands. Minato fought back a smile; it seemed that Rin had much more support than she had originally intended.

"Meeting adjourned." Danzo looked like he wanted to protest, but one look from Hiruzen was enough to keep him quiet. Along with the rest of the occupants of the room, he shuffled out of the room, until all that was left was Kakashi, Wolf, and Minato. Kakashi mumbled something about finding Rin to inform her of the good news before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

After checking to see if there was still anyone in the vicinity, Minato motioned for Wolf to speak.

"If I may humbly suggest, she would be a good fit to serve as part of the Anbu's medical division. Her medical feats are not to be disregarded."

Minato nodded. "I'll consider it." That was Wolf's cue to poof out of existence. In truth, Minato felt bad for taking Rin off of the active mission roster and keeping her in the village. However, he was hesitant in sending her off on missions, especially since the Mist nins were still trying to retrieve the sanbi. Being in the Anbu would retain her anonymity, but for how long until the Mist nins found out?

* * *

"You know you've been staring at the memorial stone for almost three hours now, don't you?" a voice commented lightly behind her.

Rin didn't have to turn around to know who it was. "And you know it's impolite to interrupt someone who is paying her respects, don't you? Besides, you weren't discharged from the hospital."

"A little genjutsu and the nurses will never know I was gone," he responded. Rin stood up, wiping away the dirt that clung to her pants before turning around to face the Uchiha.

"But your clan members?" Rin prodded.

"The good thing about landing in the hospital at the same time as the clan heir is that everyone is almost always more concerned about the wellbeing of the clan heir compared to just a member of the branch family." His tone was lighthearted, almost playful, but Rin could detect some hints of bitterness.

The same bitterness that Obito held towards his clan for writing him off as a black sheep as he failed to unlock the Sharingan as early as some of the other Uchiha kids.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

Shisui shrugged. "At least I don't have to play nice with Uchiha elders that only care about me for my reputation."

"You're surprisingly optimistic for an Uchiha."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Shisui asked, face scrunched up in a manner that suggested he was offended. The playful smile on his face gave away his true feelings. "I don't have it the worst. So what if I'm ignored because I am born into the branch family? So what if the Uchihas grudgingly accept me because I am the clan heir's best friend and have been making a reputation for myself? Fugaku's second son hasn't even been born yet and the Uchiha elders are already holding him to the same standards as Itachi. Others are scorned for not being up to par with Uchiha levels. Others are scorned for having one parent who isn't an Uchiha. Others are scorned for being a non Uchiha who possesses a Sharingan."

"How much does your clan hate Kakashi?" Rin asked, simply out of curiosity. She never really thought of the political repercussions of implanting a kekkei genkai into Kakashi; she only wanted to fulfill Obito's last request.

"Very. Lots of demands for Fugaku san to take back the Sharingan, but Fugaku san didn't. After all, war had just ended and he didn't want to start a civil war within the village."

"So perhaps they will in the future?"

"Not if they want to cross the clan heir," Shisui responded. "And trust me, Uchiha elders know better than to cross Itachi. Towards the people he doesn't like, his presence is very scary."

"I'll take your word for it. Now, did you come to visit the memorial stone or something else?"

"I was looking for you, actually," Shisui admitted. "I heard that you saved my life, so thank you."

"I was just doing my job, so don't worry about it."

"Nope, none of that. I've made it my mission to repay you somehow, someway and knowing Itachi, he will do the same. So shoot, what do you want?"

Rin blinked, wondering if it was a dream. "I don't want anything and I really don't need you to repay me back for anything. If anything, I repaid you for saving my life a while back."

"Like I said, none of that. Your humbleness is unbecoming."

"Fine, I'll think about it," Rin conceded.

"Good." Shisui nodded. "In the meantime, Mikoto san invited you over for dinner. Tomorrow at 6 o'clock. Don't be late."

Before Rin could open her mouth to decline the invitation, Shisui gave a small wave, grin stretched across his face before he poofed out of existence. Rin sighed, a shadow clone. Trust him to be part of the group of stubborn shinobis who exerted themselves too much during their recovery.

* * *

Rin didn't hate the Uchiha clan, per say, but she did hate all of the stares that she got when she entered the Uchiha compound. She hated the uncomfortable feeling that she got, almost like the people around her were itching to attack her at a moment's notice. She hated the disgusted and scorned looks that were casted her way, like she wasn't worthy of being here.

Well, she didn't want to be here in the first place, but it would be rude to stand up the matriarch of the Uchiha clan. And well, Rin figured that Mikoto Uchiha's wrath was much scarier than the rest of the clansmen.

Rin arrived at the main house ten minutes early, knocking on the door, before stepping back to what she deemed to be a respectable distance. Moments later, Itachi appeared at the door, gesturing for her to come inside. Her medical instincts kicked in; her eyes immediately drawn to the bandages around Itachi's left arm.

"Don't worry, I've been changing the bandages regularly as instructed," Itachi said, noticing that she had been staring quite intently at his injured arm. Rin's face flushed at his comment, ducking her head out of embarrassment. With her head hung low, Rin quietly followed Itachi to the dining area.

"Have a seat," Itachi said, gesturing to the nearest seat. "Tea?"

"I'll pass, thank you." A glass of water appeared before her.

"The others will be here shortly," Itachi informed her. "Did you have any trouble in finding your way here?" Rin knew that Itachi was asking out of politeness, but did Itachi actually want a real answer or for her to lie out of courtesy?

"It was alright."

"I understand that my clansmen can be quite...overbearing to non Uchihas." That was certainly one way to put it. Itachi certainly had a way with his words that Shisui didn't seem to have. Rin didn't expect anything less from the to be clan head.

"I suppose."

"Oi," a familiar voice cut in as Rin was privileged with seeing the clan heir getting smacked in the head by his older cousin. "That's the most boring conversation I've ever heard. The least you can do is not bore your savior to death."

Itachi's lips curled up into a smile. "My apologies, Nohara san."

"Just Rin is fine."

"How are you going to entertain Sasuke if you're this boring?" Shisui complained, flopping down into the seat next to Itachi.

"Sasuke?" Rin questioned.

"My otouto. We recently found out his gender."

"Oh, congratulations!" Rin said just as Mikoto entered the room. Mikoto smiled, her free hand rubbing her baby bump.

"Maybe I'll actually be able to coddle Sasuke for a bit longer than I did with Itachi. Why did you have to grow up so fast?" Mikoto admonished her son and Rin bit back a laugher as she saw Itachi shrug in response.

"That's what happens when he's too smart for his own good," Shisui contributed, nudging Itachi good naturedly in the shoulder. "Isn't that right, genius?"

"As if you aren't one yourself," Itachi retorted, earning a sharp bark of laughter from Shisui.

"Our other guests have arrived," Shisui announced, pushing his chair backwards. "I'll go get them."

Itachi took the dish from his mother's hand, gently guiding her into the seat he just vacated. Mikoto was mumbling something about being pregnant and not disabled, but thanked Itachi for his gesture all the same. Itachi promptly disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve the other dishes while Shisui appeared in the dining room, with the others in tow.

Kakashi. Izumi. And Fugaku. The playful atmosphere immediately disappeared the moment that Fugaku appeared in the room. Completely oblivious of his effect, Fugaku silently took his seat at the head of the table, with Mikoto moving to take the seat beside him. Izumi was placed in the seat next to Mikoto, then it was Kakashi at the end of the table, right across from Rin. Shisui took the one next to Rin, leaving the other seat closest to Fugaku for Itachi.

Ah, so they were seated based on hierarchy, Rin concluded. The clan head at the head of the table, followed by the main family, then other Uchihas, and then non Uchihas. Or perhaps it was a strategic move to place non Uchihas the furthest from the clan head, so that they would have to cross more distance to attack said man.

Itachi returned with the last two dishes in hand, placing them on the table before moving to take his seat next to his father.

"Itadakimasu."

Throughout dinner, it was a quiet affair save for Mikoto, who gently prodded both Kakashi and Rin with questions. The two of them answered politely, keeping in mind that Fugaku was present. After Mikoto was satisfied with grilling Kakashi and Rin, she turned to Izumi to inquire what she had been up to.

"I've been learning medical ninjutsu. Rin has taught me a lot and I think it'll be useful in the upcoming chunin exams."

"Chunin exams?" Shisui questioned. "Is it already time?"

"Yes. Rin's going to take the jonin exams too."

"Yes," Rin confirmed upon the curious glance that Kakashi shot her way. "I'm not sure if I'm ready, but I'll never unless I try. Plus, it'll be a good experience."

"When is it?" Shisui asked.

"Three months from now."

Shisui grinned. "Great! Just enough time for me to help you train."

Rin's eyes widened a fraction of an inch. "Are you sure? I mean I know you are extremely busy with Anbu missions to have much free time. I don't want to monopolize your free time."

"Do I need to remind you who was the one who saved my life so I can still have free time?" Shisui responded. "It's no bother anyways. Kakashi says you are intelligent, so teaching you will just be like teaching Itachi. Easy."

Rin chuckled nervously. "I don't think I am at that level."

"Nonsense. Meet me at the training grounds tomorrow morning."

For the first time during dinner, Fugaku spoke up. "Perhaps it is time that you take the jonin exams as well, Itachi."

Itachi taking the jonin exams? Wasn't he only twelve? Sure, Kakashi had been promoted when he was twelve, but that had been during war time.

"Whether or not I obtain the rank will have no bearing on my current status in the village," Itachi responded calmly. "My duty in the Anbu takes precedence." It was Itachi's polite way of saying that getting jonin rank was virtually useless, since he was already in the Anbu.

"But do not forget your duty to the clan."

Rin could see why Itachi turned out the way he did; his father was intense. Even if his words hadn't been directed at her, she could feel the weight and intensity behind it.

"We'll see," was Itachi's only response and that was it for the topic of jonin exams.

The rest of dinner was a long, uncomfortable affair. Mikoto tried - she really did, to diffuse the tension, but upon receiving short, clipped responses from everyone at the table, Mikoto gave up. At the end of dinner, Fugaku was the first to leave, giving no explanation for his departure. Itachi offered to wash the dishes, much to Mikoto's protests, and Izumi quickly offered. Shisui gave a mock salute to Kakashi and Itachi before revealing that he was needed at the Hokage's office then quickly left.

When Mikoto asked Kakashi and Rin to stay behind for tea, both of them declined as politely as they could, eager to escape the suffocating atmosphere. Disappointment was evident on Mikoto's face and the two of them felt guilty, but their guilt wasn't enough to keep them there. With a quick goodbye, the two of them left the main family's house and hurried through the Uchiha district.

It wasn't until the two of them made it out of the Uchiha territory did they finally relax.

"And I thought Kushina was suffocating," Kakashi muttered, casting one more glance at the gates to the Uchiha district. "Maybe I can understand why all the Uchihas I know are slightly insane."

"That's not true," Rin protested. "Obito wasn't insane."

"Any person who decides it's a good idea to charge into battle with only one kunai is insane," Kakashi responded dryly. Rin laughed as her mind conjured up the memory in her head. It had been the first mission outside of the village, an escort mission, and Obito being Obito had been running late so all he could grab was a single kunai before meeting them at Konoha's gates.

None of them had noticed his lack of weapons pouch until they were ambushed by a group of bandits. Of course, Minato sensei could have easily taken them out, but he had stepped back to give his genin, or chunin in Kakashi's case, a chance to experience the real world. Obito had been the first to charge in, with only one kunai in hand. After the bandits managed to knock it out of Obito's hands, Obito made a scramble to retrieve, which hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the team.

The mission had ended successfully, but it was an incident that Kakashi often brought up to annoy Obito to the point where Obito was always well stocked on his weaponry everywhere he went.

"How are you coping?"

"Still have nightmares, but I'm getting there," Kakashi admitted, tipping his head upwards so he could gaze at the starry sky. "And you?"

"A lot of guilt," Rin confessed. "I've been training more so no one else has to die in the process of trying to save me."

An unreadable expression was present on Kakashi's face, but the pain and regret in Kakashi's lone eye spoke volumes.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi whispered.

"For what?"

"For abandoning you on that mission. If it wasn't for Obito, you would be dead."

"I think...it would have been for the best."

"No, your life is important too," Kakashi countered. It was strange to hear Kakashi say something to comfort her, but it certainly touched her heart.

"Thank you."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again. :) **

**This chapter is simply to bash Danzo and the Elders because I never liked them in canon. Sorry for the sort of filler chapter, but it was necessary to transition to the jonin exams and plant the beginnings of some subplots which will come up later in the story. **

**Thank you to the Guest reviewer!**

**The semester officially starts tomorrow for me (sigh), so I'm going to start updating once a week on Fridays to keep things routine because we all know I am super forgetful when things get busy. If I don't update, feel free to shoot me a message lol. The good news is that I did finish writing a good chunk of the story during break so I should be able to update consistently until I get around to finishing the rest of the story. **

**If you want to take a guess, the next chapter is titled A New Weapon. Super lame, but I was never good at naming things lol (I mean look at the title of the story haha). **

**Anyways, thank you for reading! Feel free to let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	8. A New Weapon

**Chapter Seven: A New Weapon**

Shisui and Kakashi had been careful to not reveal too much about the jonin exams as they trained with Rin and Itachi, the latter spontaneously deciding to also register for the jonin on the day of the deadline for registration. Rin wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about his sudden participation. Would he hurt her chances if there were limited slots? Would he overshadow her so much that she wouldn't be seen to be jonin level?

When Shisui revealed that there is a one to one combat portion of the exam, Rin inwardly panicked. What if she got pitted against Itachi? Sure, she knew his fighting style better than most, but that didn't mean she had an appropriate counter. What use was her knowledge if she couldn't use it to her advantage?

When Rin expressed her self doubts to Kakashi, making sure both Uchihas were out of earshot, Kakashi assured her that she had nothing to worry about. In fact, Kakashi seemed to confidently state that Itachi's participation in the exam alongside her would only increase her chances of passing. Rin doubted that, but refrained from voicing the new concerns that arose from Kakashi's cryptic words.

At the very least, Rin assured herself that she had an edge over Itachi in medical ninjutsu that his Sharingan wasn't able to copy. Even if he was able to analyze the technique with his dojutsu, Rin knew that Itachi's chakra control didn't reach the level to use medical ninjutsu.

Over the past three months, Rin learned more than she ever did, even when she was under Tsunade's tutelage. After sparring against Shisui, Rin knew she was lagging behind in almost every aspect. The only area that Rin was able to match Shisui in was taijutsu, courtesy of Tsunade's training. Even so, Shisui was still always a fraction of a second faster than her. Even if Rin could predict his next move, that didn't mean she would react fast enough to dodge it. To compensate for that, Rin ended up having to pick and choose which hits she would let him land, so she can strike him once or twice.

And that had only been because Shisui was going easy on her.

In terms of her genjutsu, well Shisui insisted that she wasn't totally hopeless. Her precise chakra control made it easy for her to detect genjutsu in an instant and was useful in preventing her from not noticing multiple layers of genjutsu. However beyond academy level genjutsu, Rin was completely hopeless at casting.

"There's multiple ways to go about casting a genjutsu," Shisui explained. "However, the key is that you need to affect one of their five senses. The most common one is sight, which is also the easiest one to detect; however, you can also cast it by affecting their sense of hearing, taste, feeling, and smell.

"There's two common approaches to using genjutsu. First, you manipulate the victim by casting a genjutsu that mirrors their reality, but trick them into attacking a nonexistent opponent or turning your enemies against each other. You can also use it to fool your opponents into thinking you are in front of them, but in fact, you are behind them. The second is to capitalize on the enemy's fear and drive them insane by letting them face their worst fears. For example, Itachi has a power called Tsukuyomi, which takes the user's worst fear and projects them into reality.

"The catch to using genjutsu is that you must be aware if the enemy is still caught in or not. Smart shinobis will continue pretending to be caught in the genjutsu to lure the caster into complacency. However, I think with your natural sensory skills you should be able to sense the disturbance in their chakra, or the lack thereof."

Rin understood the theory behind genjutsu, but casting a believable genjutsu was harder than it seemed. She had the basics down, manipulating one or two things in a landscape, a C ranked genjutsu that allowed her an element of surprise or a quick escape, but Shisui wanted to push her to A ranked level.

"To manipulate a landscape, you need to have extensive knowledge of the territory. For example, if someone cast a genjutsu on you and put a plant in the landscape that is commonly found in Iwa, you would immediately notice it. However, something like that is only gained through extensive travelling. For now, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with areas of Konoha since the exam will take place in the village."

Rin did just that, often running through parts of the village she typically avoided as she built up her stamina and endurance. It took her three days just to completely explore the layout of the Forest of Death.

She worked on her landscape manipulation, often failing because she was used to concentrating on one thing at a time. After adjusting her mindset, Rin's genjutsu landscape looked to be more believable everyday.

When Shisui came back from his mission, he challenged her to a spar. After multiple failed attempts at being interrupted by Shisui's attacks, Rin successfully activated the genjutsu and caught him for 1.5 seconds before Shisui easily broke out of the genjutsu.

"You need to work on your speed of casting. I'm sure you noticed that if your opponent doesn't give you an opening, you'll never be able to cast it successfully. And you should also be able to cast it without using hand seals; that's a dead giveaway that you are up to something, unless you want to follow up with some sort of jutsu in your genjutsu. Other than that, well done. The landscape was very believable."

"But you broke out of it so quickly," Rin frowned. "How is that supposed to give me an advantage?"

"A high level genjutsu user will cast multiple layers at a time. Most shinobis will break through the first one easily, but will let down their guard and not notice there is a second one. A good strategy is to plant something minor, but suspicious in the first layer so that the shinobi will dispel it. The second layer should be realistic and thus his guard will be down."

"How many layers can you cast?"

"I suppose the limit is as much as your chakra can handle," Shisui answered. "But three is usually enough for me."

By the next time Shisui met up with her to check her progress, Rin was able to reduce the hand seals down to one and mastered a double layered genjutsu, but failed to make a third layer that wasn't an exact copy of the second.

At that point, Shisui told her to work on the third layer after the exams since it was only a failsafe in case Rin met a genjutsu user.

"I'm leaving on an extended mission, so I'm not sure when I'll be back. In the meantime, I want you to work on fear inducing genjutsus."

"No guidance?" Rin asked as Shisui had begun to turn to walk away.

"I've taught you the basics and now it's up to you to apply it. Any good jonin will have a few original jutsus in their stash of techniques. If you only learn existing jutsus, then there's always a possibility that they will have already encountered it before, so you lose the element of surprise."

And there was that. Rin supposed she had never been on the innovative side like Kakashi and Shisui, but she could see his point.

The first thing that Rin worked on was figuring out how to cast a genjutsu without using hand seals. Sight was the most common way to induce a genjutsu, but that was too predictable. Taste was contingent upon getting the target to eat something, so it was highly unlikely to work. Touch would require skin to skin contact, in which she would have to channel her chakra into the target's system. It was too risky since she didn't have a quick getaway like her sensei's Hiarishin in case her genjutsu failed. That left sound and smell.

In regards to smell, an odorless smoke bomb could possibly work. However, creating the gas that would go inside the smoke bomb would take some time, so Rin decided that she would come back to it once she mastered sound.

The sound would need to be one that was commonly heard within any battle. Then…

An idea flickered to mind and Rin immediately took off to the nearest weapons store and asked the cashier if there was any weapon that made to accomodate chakra being channelled through it. The cashier quickly pointed to the aisle next to her, which featured an assortment of swords. Figures, using chakra nature in a sword was popular, but Rin didn't know any kenjutsu.

Rin left the shop after figuring that her regular kunais would have to make do. After channeling her chakra through a kunai, Rin took out another one and clanged it against the first. She felt a bit of disturbance to her chakra, but it was hardly anything.

Perhaps it was something that built up after multiple clangs? Rin continued to hit kunai against kunai repeatedly, but found that the interval between the sound waves reaching her ears took too long. The minor disturbance at each sound wave disappeared before the next one reached her ears.

Rin sought out Kurenai, the best genjutsu user of their generation, for help. Unfortunately, the girl hadn't been that useful since she used sight genjutsu, but she did give Rin another direction to look in.

"Your mother, Yua Nohara, was one of the most revered genjutsu user. According to the bingo book, her genjutsus were powerful and strong enough that the enemies don't even realize they've been placed under a genjutsu until they die."

Rin thanked Kurenai for the information, pretending that she knew everything that Kurenai had told her, except she didn't. She didn't even remember her mother's face, much less her name or know of her techniques. She didn't know anything about her mother's existence save for the few offhand comments she received about looking just like her mother.

Rin scoured the library to find any information on her mother, but there wasn't a single trace of her. It was almost like someone had deliberately erased her existence from Konoha's archives.

But why? What had her mother done to be given that treatment?

Her next bet was to get her hands on the bingo book that Kurenai had mentioned, but only jonin level shinobis were privy to that sort of information. Kakashi was bound to have one, but he was out of the village and not likely to lend it to her. She supposed that she could break into his apartment to retrieve it, if Kakashi left that sort of thing at home, but from Obito's experience, Kakashi laid traps everywhere.

Without the aid of the Sharingan, Rin was unlikely to get through all of them without triggering one.

Minato sensei had clammed up when Rin asked him and brushed her off, stating that he didn't know much about her mother. However the guilt that contorted his features suggested that Minato sensei knew something that he wasn't telling her. Not the type to press on the matter, Rin accepted his answer and left the Hokage Tower, but not before eyeing the Hokage archives. If the Hokage library was anything like his house, then Rin bet it was full of detection seals. It would immediately be a red flag if Minato sensei felt her chakra in the Hokage library, but it wouldn't be suspicious for her chakra signature to be at his house.

Minato sensei had a vast book collection, so he was bound to have a bingo book among them. If not, Kushina nee probably owned a copy and seeing that she never left the village, it was bound to be inside the house.

Rin paid a visit to Kushina, during the day while Minato was still stuck at the Hokage's office since it was much easier to sneak around when there was only one person. As a form of apology for sneaking around in her house, Rin brought Kushina ramen from Ichiraku, but Kushina was under the guise that Rin just wanted to eat lunch with her.

Rin mentioned her genjutsu training to Kushina when she inquired about it. Kushina admitted that she didn't have much experience in that area, but lightheartedly suggested that Rin just plant an image of an angry nine tailed fox for her fear inducing genjutsu.

The doorbell rang right on time. Kushina excused herself to get the door, while Rin muttered something about going to the bathroom before slipping out of the kitchen. Kushina opened the door to see it was a delivery of flowers from Minato, well they were from Rin who signed the card with Minato's name. From the living room, Rin could hear the Yamanaka engaging Kushina in small talk, just like she had instructed. Satisfied that Kushina was sufficely distracted, Rin's eyes scanned the bookshelf for the book.

The first shelf was dedicated to Jiraya's novels, most notably the Tales of a Gutsy Ninja, which Minato had encouraged his students to read as well. Then there were some history books, some books on teleportation and wind nature manipulation, and clan politics.

Then Rin saw it. The bingo book on the very last shelf, stashed behind some books about the history of the Whirlpool. When Rin removed the Whirlpool book, it revealed five identical black books, about the size for her to fit into her weapons pouch. Rin grabbed all five, ready to flip through the pages to confirm if they were copies or different books, but she could hear Kushina shutting the door. Rin quickly sealed the books away and tucked her scroll into her weapons pouch.

"Aren't these lovely?" Kushina said as Rin entered the kitchen. Her left hand held the bouquet of roses while her right opened the tap to fill up the vase with water.

"From Minato sensei?" Rin inquired.

"Yes. He'll be so embarrassed when I confront him about it," Kushina stated, to which Rin inwardly panicked, knowing that she would be busted. "But I think I'll give him a pass since he was so thoughtful."

Relief coursed through her.

Rin chatted with Kushina for just a bit longer before feigning some excuse that she had to get going. Kushina waved her off and Rin hurried home to crack open the bingo books. Unrolling the scroll, Rin made the hand seal to activate the seal and the stack of books poofed into existence. Grabbing the top one, Rin cracked it open to find it belonged to Kiri.

Flipping through the book, Rin found pictures of members from the other four great shinobi villages. From Konoha, Minato, the third Hokage, and others were listed in the bingo book. It was clearly outdated as Sakumo Hatake was still listed as alive in the book. Rin flipped to the last page, mouth widening as she saw a very familiar figure staring right back at her.

Her mother, who looked like an older version of her. Or Rin was her carbon copy. They had the same straight brown hair, except hers was longer than Rin's, and the same shade of brown eyes. Their similarities in their facial structures was undeniable. The only difference between the two of them was the purple paint that she always wore, while her mother didn't have any.

Rin quickly read the minimal information Kiri possessed on her mother. Aside from her name and village affiliation, Rin learned that her mother's speciality was genjutsu. Other than that, the only piece of helpful information was that her mother wielded a flute as her weapon.

A flute? Auditory genjutsu, then?

Rin flipped through the other books. Suna's was slightly more updated, marking her mother as deceased, while Iwa, the most updated of the three, didn't even have her mother listed. Instead, she found Kakashi, Shisui, and Itachi listed in their bingo book, the youngest members in the entire bingo book, noted for their use of wielding the Sharingan. Like Iwa, Kumo's didn't have her mother listed.

Was that all of the information she was going to find on her mother? Out of curiosity, Rin opened Konoha's bingo book, just to see who Konoha deemed to be threats. There were a couple Iwa names that she recognized from the war and the Seven Legendary Sword ninjas was a name that everyone knew, but most of the names were foreign to her.

Then she flipped to the last section, that listened former Konoha shinobis. Missing nins, traitors.

Rin didn't recognize any of the names and she reckoned that Konoha wouldn't want to advertise their missing nins to the younger generation. She had been able to close the book, not wanting to bother with the two pages left in the book, but the crease on the corner of the page had drawn her attention.

It was bookmarked by either Minato sensei or Kushina nee, but it had to be important if it was. Rin flipped the page.

Missing nin. Yua Nohara. Last spotted in the Land of Ice. Written over her profile was the word "deceased" in Minato's neat handwriting.

The bingo book detailed the extent of her genjutsu abilities as well as her proficient medical ninjutsu skills but Rin couldn't concentrate on the words. The words "missing nin" rang through her mind, non stop.

She wanted to cry. Why had her mother abandoned the village, abandoned her? Was this what Minato sensei didn't want to tell her?

Even if the truth hurt, Rin would have wanted to know.

Yua Nohara, the Illusionist. Former ninja of Konoha. Her mother.

A traitor.

A flash of yellow appeared in her apartment, tugging the bingo book from her grasp. Rin didn't fight it. Minato's eyes narrowed at the opened page from the book.

"You found out."

"Did you think you could hide it from me forever, sensei?"

"I wanted to wait until you were older. Besides, I didn't find out the details of her departure until recently."

"Sensei, I know you still see me as a little kid, but I'm sixteen," Rin protested. "I deserved to know."

"And then what? Let you turn into another Kakashi, who harbored a grudge towards his dad and turned him into someone who he's not? Answer me honestly, if you knew your mother was a medical ninja, would you have worked so hard to learn it?"

"Probably not," Rin admitted. It was one thing for them to look identical, but for them to specialize in the same areas…

Perhaps that was how Kakashi felt, constantly being seen as his father that he wanted nothing to do with the blade.

"Listen. The Sandaime told me that her missing nin status is a misunderstanding, but the older generation is too hard headed to believe him, so your mother had to bear the missing nin status."

"Can you tell me the story?"

Minato nodded. "Yua met your father on one of her missions. Your father was the ruler of the Land of the Ice and Yua's loyalties were tied with Konoha. To see him, Yua would often sneak out of the village. Naturally that raised suspicions, so a group of our trackers were sent to follow her. When they did, they found Yua killing an Iwa nin, who was an ally at the time. Some condemned her for being one of the reasons for causing the Third Great Ninja War. The word spread through the village and eventually Yua was outcasted. Rather than staying in a place where she was exiled, Yua decided to leave the village to join your father in the Land of the Ice."

"But did she kill the Iwa nin?"

"Yes, but the Iwa nin was a missing nin. Plus, she had no choice but to kill him or be killed herself."

"Then why am I in Konoha? Shouldn't I be in the Land of the Ice?"

"I don't know the details, but it is said that the Land of the Ice has perished. It is assumed that Yua perished along with the rest of the population."

"Why didn't I die too?"

"I think you're the only one who knows the answer to that," Minato responded wryly. "But you were very young when you showed up at Konoha's doorstep, so it's natural if you don't remember anything."

"I see. Thank you, sensei."

"Now, next time you want something, don't go stealing it from my house."

"I'm sorry, sensei."

Minato smiled. "You know, this is the first time you've caused trouble for me. I've been waiting so many years to be able to scold you like I did to Kakashi and Obito, but the satisfaction that I got wasn't as great as I thought. What a shame."

"You know, you can scold your kid soon instead of taking it out on your students," Rin responded cheekily.

Seeing Minato stumble from the shock wasn't something that anyone saw everyday. Just seeing that made it all worth it.

"Kushina's pregnant?"

"I'm 90% sure, but you should ask Kushina yourself if you want to know."

"No. Kushina would kill me if I already found out. I'll just have to pretend that I don't know, no thanks to you." At this, Minato attempted to glare at Rin, but she continued to smile cheekily at him.

"Don't you have Hokage duties to attend?" Rin prodded upon seeing that Minato still made no move to leave her apartment. Perhaps, Minato was still in shock from the news she dropped on him, judging from the dazed look in his eyes.

"I figured that catching my student in the act of robbery was a much more pressing matter than filling out paperwork. I swear, all that paperwork will be the death of me."

"You should hire an assistant," Rin suggested.

"You're right, but that person would have to be someone I trust since they'll be in contact with a lot of sensitive information. On top of that, the person will always have to stay in the village because there's an endless amount of paper. Kushina won't do because she has zero patience. Hmm, who will be the perfect candidate...you!" Minato beamed at her, as if this had been his most genius idea, surpassing the creation of the Rasengan and Hiarishin.

"No," Rin responded flatly. "I already did my share of paperwork when I worked at the hospital, thank you. Besides, I'm taking the jonin exams soon, so I'm too busy training to be doing paperwork."

"Ah yes, I heard from Kakashi that Shisui Uchiha is training you? How has he done? Maybe I'll assign him to be a jonin sensei when he decides to retire from the Anbu," Minato mused.

Rin shrugged. "I learned a lot, but he's really a more of 'you should figure it out on your own' type of person."

"Well it's good practice. Maybe you'll be the next to invent a jutsu."

"We'll see, sensei."

"I'll leave you to it. Come by for dinner before your exams, alright? No stealing anything this time."

"I will," Rin promised. "By the way, do you know if my mother's flute still exists?"

"It might be in the weapons vault," Minato told her. "Come." That was the only warning that he gave before Minato grabbed her by the wrist, activating Hiarishin to teleport the two of them to the Konoha's weapons vault, where forbidden techniques and abandoned clan tools were kept. Minato pressed his hand against the seal of the vault, channeling his chakra into the paper. He ripped off the tag and spun the door open, revealing a walk in room, with shelves of many, many scrolls, as well as weaponry of all kinds.

Rin reached out to pull one of the scrolls off the shelf, but Minato's hand stopped her. "Those are forbidden techniques."

"Then why don't they burn it instead?" Rin questioned. "If no one is allowed to learn it."

"For sentimental value, I suppose," Minato answered as his eyes scanned the shelves for Yua's flute. "A lot of the Shodaime and Nidaime's techniques are located here."

"But what if the technique gets stolen? Wouldn't it be safer to just get rid of it altogether?"

"It won't," Minato stated confidently. "Since I took Hokage, I had upped the security on the vault with my sealing technique. It will only respond to my chakra, so there's no other way in, other than brute force. Technically, I'm not supposed to bring you here, but I trust you."

"What an honor," Rin replied cheekily, standing on her tippy toes to view the weapons on the tallest shelf.

"Ah well, I think this is it," Minato said, holding out a very dusty flute that looked like it was in desperate need of a polish.

Minato let out a couple of curses as the flute suddenly glowed red, forcing Minato to drop the weapon to the floor. "It burned my hand."

Hesitantly, Rin bent down to the floor, reaching out towards the flute with shaky hands. Her fingers brushed against the dust layered on top of the flute before her fingers touched cool metal. Her fingers curled around the flute, lifting it up so she held it with both hands.

Rin waited for the flute to reach to her touch, to burn her like it did with Minato, but after two minutes of holding it, Rin didn't feel anything. Instead, it almost felt soothing to hold the flute in her hands.

"Channel your chakra into it," Minato instructed. Rin did, until the entire metal hummed to her chakra. There was a faint white chakra that surrounded it, but it was hardly noticeable unless one looked closely.

"Indeed a family heirloom after all," Minato chuckled. "I guess that as an outsider, I wasn't meant to touch it."

Rin tucked away her flute, reaching out to heal Minato's hands.

"Say sensei, can you test something with me?"

"Why not?" Minato shrugged. "Anything to get me out of doing paperwork."

It worked. The flute worked. Contrary to its conventional use of blowing into it, the flute was able to cast anything from academy level to high level genjutsu depending on how much chakra Rin channelled into it, just from the clanging of metal together. Upon hearing from the sound, the opponent's hearing will become distorted and paralysis will occur as the sound will damage some of the nearby nerves. From there, the genjutsu will set in.

When Shisui returned from his extended mission, four days before the first part of the jonin exams were expected to take place, Rin hadn't mastered fear inducing genjutsu at all. After the discovery of her mother's secret weapon, Rin had channelled all of her energy into practicing yielding it and discovering everything that it could do. Blowing into the flute, Rin found out, caused complete paralysis for one minute for those who were unlucky to bear the brunt of its full force.

Rin figured her mastery of the flute would make up for not experimenting fear inducing genjutsu, not that Rin really wanted to subject anyone to it. Perhaps it was necessary sometimes, but facing her own fears in her nightmares were enough for her to not wish that on anyone else.

When Shisui asked to spar, he had been taken aback slightly upon seeing her using the flute, but he recovered quickly. As they clashed, Shisui was undoubtedly caught in the genjutsu, but he managed to break it faster than Rin expected. Twenty two seconds.

"That's Yua's technique, isn't it?" Shisui asked when they took a break from sparring.

"How did you know?"

"Bingo book," was all Shisui said. "No wonder Yua was always at the bane of the Uchiha's existence. Even if our Sharingan can detect the genjutsu, we can't break out of it that quickly due to the paralysis element. Even after breaking out of the genjutsu, I can still feel some of the side effects."

"A jutsu made to fight the Uchiha?"

"Perhaps. The Nohara family is a descendant of the Senju clan so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case," Shisui said. He stood up, brushing the dirt off of his pants. "Come on, we have four more days."

"Don't you want to train Itachi?" Rin questioned.

"Itachi has learned everything he can from me aside from the Body Flicker technique," Shisui revealed. "He'll learn more from Kakashi. After all, the Copy Ninja has a lot more techniques in his arsenal."

Rin didn't question it anymore and instead listened intently as Shisui lectured her on the properties of ninjutsu, which Rin had briefly read about when she was in the academy. Four days wasn't nearly enough to master any high level ninjutsu, but she could learn a low ranked one.

"Your other skills should be enough to carry you through the exam, but just in case you happen to meet a genjutsu user, you can always use ninjutsu to confuse your opponent. Most shinobis tend to specialize in one or the other, so it'll definitely come as a surprise to them. Now channel your chakra into this paper."

Rin did as he asked, watching the paper splice in half before being soaked in water.

"Wind and water?" Rin asked. "Aren't we only supposed to have one main chakra nature?"

"Normally that's the case, but most jonins can use two or more chakra natures almost as well as their first. I guess you are a special case. In that case, we'll focus on water jutsus since they are easier to learn and well, I don't know any wind jutsus."

Water jutsus were easy to learn, just like Shisui said, but it sapped a lot of chakra, especially when there wasn't a water source nearby. The larger the volume of water that Rin tried to manipulate, the more chakra it tooked. When Rin voiced her concern to Shisui, he merely explained that all ninjutsu was like that and as she got used to it, it would take less exertion and chakra wield it.

"You should definitely train with Kakashi after the exams if you are interested in working more on your ninjutsu," Shisui told her. "That man is an expert. He doesn't even have to wield hand seals and when he does, he only does it to show off how fast he is."

Rin would have to think about it. Her genjutsu skills were good, but still not on par with the likes of Shisui and Itachi. Maybe she should focus on one thing at a time. Still, Rin did feel a lot better entering the exams with three simple water techniques in her arsenal.

Before she knew it, the day of the jonin exams had arrived.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Boring training chapter, but she needs some skills before the jonin exams that will begin next chapter. The next chapter is called Jonin Exams Part I. Super obvious I know, but anyone want to take a guess at the content? **

**The entire jonin exam arc was fun to write because of Itachi + Rin friendship development. Odd friendship, but they made it work haha. **

**Anyways, thank you to everyone for reviewing, reading, and just taking the time to click on my story. It means a lot to me! Feel free to let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	9. Jonin Exams Part I

Chapter Eight: Jonin Exams Part I  
The exam was scheduled to start at ten o'clock in the morning, in one of the academy classrooms as the class went outside for shuriken and taijutsu practice. Partly out of anxiety and partly because it was habit, Rin arrived to the classroom twenty minutes early. When she arrived, there was no one in sight. The classroom lights were on and after peering through the small sliver of window lodged in the door, Rin found the entire room to be empty.

Perhaps she had been the earliest to arrive?

Rin paced in front of the classroom for a good five minutes, waiting for someone else to show up. But five minutes later, Rin was still the only one present. Inwardly, she debated whether or not she should just go in.

Her adventurous side won out and she found her hand reaching for the door knob, twisting it and pushing the door open before stepping inside. The classroom was a typical academy one, with three sections of seats containing five rows each. After reaching out to feel if anyone's chakra was nearby, Rin began walking down the aisles of each row, digging through the underside cubby of the desk for any type of instruction or perhaps, the exam paper.

She found nothing so Rin moved on to the podium, digging through the shelves. All she found were academy level textbooks and some academy assignments.  
Rin frowned; she was certain that she hadn't gotten the location or the time wrong. A brief glance at the clock on the back wall informed her there were ten minutes until the scheduled begin time.

She sensed her surroundings again, wanting to make sure no one was around when she slipped out of the room when she felt a stream of pulsing chakra that she didn't notice before. Following her senses, Rin realized that the chakra was being emitted from the blackboard. Pressing her right hand against the board, she poured some of her chakra into it. Kanji appeared on the board, revealing the real testing location. Once she removed her hand from the board, the kanji immediately disappeared. Rin exited the classroom, taking off in the direction of the Hokage tower.

She made it to one of the spare council rooms, turned into a testing location for this particular occasion, to see that there were already sixteen other jonin hopefuls there, Itachi and Asuma, who she briefly recognized from the academy, included. Rin quietly slipped to Itachi's side as the others eyed her as she entered, undoubtedly already sizing her up as competition.

"The others have already formed temporary alliances," Itachi informed her in a hushed voice. "Perhaps it is best if we stick together as well."

Rin nodded in agreement. If anything, Rin would benefit teaming up with Itachi rather than the other way around.

When ten o'clock hit, there were twenty two chunins in the room. A puff of smoke appeared at the front of the room, resulting in all of the chunins tensing up, hands hovered around their weapons. Itachi and Rin were no exceptions.

"Ah, looks like three of you didn't make it past the preliminary cut," a man that Rin recognized to be the head of the Nara clan, Shikaku Nara, drawled as his black eyes roved over the chunins before him. "Lesson one: any jonin should be able to gather accurate information in a timely manner."

The room remained dead silent.

"Well good, you're not a troublesome bunch. Find your name at one of these tables and that will be your assigned seat. The first exam is naturally a knowledge exam, full of questions that any jonins should know. Please complete it within the hour. Also, there's a questionnaire on the last page of the exam that you must fill out, but it won't count towards your exam score. Any questions?"

No one spoke.

"Good, take a seat and I'll pass out your exams shortly."

Everyone in the room scrambled to find their seats, moving quickly down the aisle to spot their names. Rin moved to find her seat, but a light tug on her sleeve from Itachi stopped her to her tracks. She turned to find his Sharingan activated and pointed to the seat located in the last row, the very end. She thanked Itachi before moving to take her seat, noting that Itachi did the same. He was seated two rows in front of her, three seats from the edge.

Shikaku pulled out a thick stack of papers, dropping what looked like a thick packet on everyone's desk. Rin tensed when Shikaku slapped her packet on her desk, eyeing the small font. There were already eight questions on the first page alone; was it possible to finish the exam in time?

When he called for them to start, Rin quickly flipped through all of the pages to find a total of 100 questions and a bonus question. Like Shikaku mentioned, the last page was a questionnaire that was mandatory for her to complete. It was practically impossible to finish the entire exam in one hour; either it was designed to set them up for failure or there was an underlying message.

From a few seats over, Itachi was thinking along the same lines as Rin. He thought back to Shikaku's instructions; Shikaku only stated that the questionnaire was mandatory, but didn't mention that he had to actually complete any of these questions. The bonus question was strange, as it was something that everyone would skip over when pressed for time. Itachi imagined that the bonus question was the most important question, so he worked on drawing the chakra networks that were required by hand. When Itachi finished, he found the kanji for "lie" staring right back at him.

Lie? Lie on what?

Moving on, Itachi flipped to the questionnaire, eyes scanning the instructions.

Please fill out the questionnaire as honestly as possible. All information will be used for the sole purpose of forming compatible teams and assigning suitable missions.  
That seemed completely normal, except the previous question instructed him to lie. Itachi's eyes scanned the page: strengths, weaknesses, and favored combat style.

Ah, Itachi understood the purpose of the assignment. He quickly filled out the obvious: his sharingan and fire ball jutsu in the strengths, wrote taijutsu for his favored combat style just for the heck of it. Itachi debated whether he or not he should fill in something for weaknesses, but ultimately decided that leaving it blank would be too obvious that he figured out the true nature of the questionnaire. Kenjutsu was his final answer, not too unbelievable, but a lie at the same time.

To kill time, Itachi began filling in some of the other questions. It was a failsafe just in case he actually needed to fill out some of the questions to pass although Itachi was 95% sure that he figured out the true nature of the exam.

On the other side of the room, Rin took an entirely different approach. She powered through the questions, pencil scratching the paper at an alarming rate. The tip of the lead hardly left the paper, save for when she turned the page.

The first few questions were easy, hardly chunin level before the questions got progressively harder to the point where Rin suspected that it some of the knowledge was beyond jonin level. Still, Rin hastily scribbled down the answers since she knew them. With seven minutes left to spare, Rin flipped to the second to last page containing a bonus question.

Rin had been about to skip the bonus question and move on the questionnaire, since Shikaku specifically mentioned that the questionnaire needed to be completed to pass, but one quick look at the question, Rin changed her mind. Drawing the specified chakra networks? That would take her one minute max, as her medical training ensured that Rin was able to draw a full body diagram containing all organs, major arteries and veins, chakra networks, and nerves in under ten minutes. Just a few chakra networks? Practically nothing.

Thirty seconds later, the bonus question was completed. Without sparing much of a glance to the completed question, Rin moved on the questionnaire, quickly reading the instructions.

Information to be used to form compatible teams and assign suitable missions? Rin couldn't recall Minato sensei possessing such a thing. According to her knowledge, each shinobi's file was filled out by their academy teacher and then their jonin sensei. By the time that a shinobi was promoted to chunin, their speciality would have already been made clear during the combat portion of the exam.

Perhaps it was just to update their files? Even if that was the case, something about the instructions bugged her.

Rin bought time by filling in things that she definitely knew already appeared in her file. For strength, she put medical ninjutsu, while placing offensive medical ninjutsu as her combat style. Weaknesses...well everything but medical ninjutsu?

Noting that there was one more minute remaining in the hour, Rin quickly scribbled a quick list of all of her weaknesses: close combat, long range combat, genjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, and fuinjutsu. Fifteen seconds left, Rin moved to close the packet when she spotted the bonus question again.

This time she saw it: the kanji for lie, but it was too late to change any of her answers as Shikaku called time. One guy attempted to continue writing, but was immediately disqualified on the spot. Shikaku collected the exam papers, telling all of them to come back to this room in two hours. All of the chunins shuffled out of the room. The moment the door closed, discussion erupted in the hallway. Most of it were complaints about how it had been impossible to finish the exam. When Asuma gently reminded his companion that they were supposed to fill out the questionnaire, a few of them went pale, clearly having forgotten.

However no one mentioned the true purpose of the exam. Either most of them didn't figure it out or those who did deemed it wiser to keep their mouths shut. Itachi was one in the latter category while Rin mentally berated herself for figuring it out at the last second.

"Lunch?" Rin didn't turn down Itachi's offer.

Lunch was a quiet affair as Itachi was never a man of many words and Rin didn't know what to quite say to him. With Shisui, it had been so easy since he was so easygoing. In regards to Izumi, medical ninjutsu was always a go to topic when the conversation died. But talking to Itachi was almost like communicating with Kakashi when she first met him; it took her many years to figure out which topics she would solicit a decent response from him. That, and she learned how to be comfortable with silence.

When lunch ended, Itachi insisted on paying for her share, citing that he still owed her for saving his life. Rin wanted to protest, but if Itachi was anywhere as stubborn as his cousin, then she would just be wasting her time. So, Rin let him.

With 75 minutes to kill before they were due back at the Hokage Tower, Itachi suggested that they could train in preparation for the next section of the exam.  
"So confident that you passed?" Rin teased.

"Ah. I presume you figured out the true nature of the exam as well?"

Rin let out a nervous chuckle. "Well not really? At least, I didn't catch on the code in the bonus question until we had to turn in the paper, so I didn't get a chance to change any of my answers."

"So you answered them truthfully?" Itachi inquired.

"I mean, I wrote medical ninjutsu for strength since I knew that already existed in my file for sure. As for weaknesses, I literally wrote that I was terrible at everything aside from medical ninjutsu."

"That's smart," Itachi complimented. "When your opponent sees it, it will confuse them greatly."

"You think they're going to distribute the paper to our competitors?"

"That's my guess. Those who answered honestly will be at a disadvantage. Or perhaps, it is a strategy to answer truthfully, as those who figured out the code will be doubtful of everything that is written on the papers. Either way, we will have to use our judgment to determine what is a lie and what isn't. For example, it would have been too obvious if you did not put medical ninjutsu as your strength like it is for me if I did not put fireball jutsu, as every Uchiha knows it."

"So next stage...one on one combat with the other participants?" Rin deduced.

"Very likely. Team combat is a possibility, but I wager the percentage of that happening is lower."

"What if I have to fight you?" Rin questioned, her worry beginning to increase tenfold. Even if she knew all of Itachi's moves - which she didn't - she still didn't stand a chance at winning.

"Then I suppose we will both have to do our best," Itachi responded. In actuality, it was more like Rin needed to do her best to not get her ass kicked too early in the match.  
Despite her worries, Rin still agreed to spar with Itachi. After all, it's not like she had anything to lose at letting him see her fighting style. She would lose anyways.

Training with Shisui had helped improve her speed marginally; she was able to keep up with Itachi a lot more than she did when she sparred with Shisui, but Itachi was still faster. Throughout the spar, it was surprising to hear Itachi give pointers on her stance, allowing her three seconds to correct it before attacking again.

Tsunade's training came back to her the longer the spar went on. Despite taking some blows, which Rin easily healed without much thought, her mind analyzed every move. Though barely obvious, Rin eventually figured out Itachi's weakness: always a fraction of a second slower to cover his right side than his left. Still, considering Itachi's speed, a fraction of a second slower practically meant nothing.

Rin felt Itachi building up chakra in his upper chest area, quickly adding fire nature chakra to it, while a steady stream of chakra began to make its way up his mouth area. Then she saw it, Itachi forming the first hand seal for the Uchiha style fireball jutsu. Quickly molding her own chakra and running though the seals for a water wave jutsu, the two jutsus were released at the same time. The two jutsus clashed, cancelling each other out.

Within the evaporation mist, Rin began to move, knowing that Itachi was surely using his Sharingan to seek her out. Hopping onto one of the trees and perching on one of the sturdier branches, Rin completely suppressed her chakra. Closing her eyes to concentrate on locating Itachi's chakra signature, Rin quickly pinpointed his location. Three o'clock, with three shurikens incoming.

Rin jumped down from the branch, her hands grabbing ahold of the branch and allowing her body to swing in an arc. Keeping one hand on the branch, her other hand reached for a kunai in her holster, cutting the wires in one clean sweep as her momentum propelled her upwards. Landing on the branch once more, Rin shot three senbons in Itachi's direction before taking off in Itachi's direction.

As Rin neared Itachi, she spotted Itachi dodging the senbons with ease, using his Sharingan as an aid. Channelling chakra to the soles of her feet, she used the extra boost to propel her straight to Itachi, her flute already in hand. Rin swung the flute, aiming at Itachi's right side, but as predicted, Itachi was ready to counter with a kunai.

The two metals clashed together.

Rin didn't let up on her attack; her left hand was ready with a kunai and she swung it, slashing at Itachi. She managed to nick Itachi's cheek, a dribble of blood already running down his face as he broke the genjutsu and managed to jump backwards, out of her reach.

"Interesting technique there. Managed to catch me off guard for a few seconds." Hearing that come from Itachi's mouth slightly boosted her confidence. She had managed to land a hit on the Uchiha prodigy!

"Let's call it?" Rin suggested, hand outstretched to make the truce. Itachi reciprocated her action.

"Let me heal your face." Itachi didn't protest and allowed Rin's hand to glow green for a few seconds, closing the skin. He wiped the blood off of his face after Rin finished healing him.

"You are a sensor type, aren't you?" Itachi inquired. Rin knew exactly what Itachi wanted to know.

"Yes. I've been working on my sensory skills for about a year now. With my understanding of the chakra network, I can use it to predict what move the opponent will make next depending on where the chakra is flowing through the body."

"That was how you were able to counter my fireball jutsu," Itachi stated.

"Well sort of. I could feel you molding your chakra and that your chakra was flowing towards your mouth. I still have a hard time differentiating between the different chakra natures. I only knew it was fire because I encountered it before when I fought Izumi."

"Ah. And you can predict moves in hand to hand combat?"

"A little bit. Shinobis unconsciously channel a bit a chakra into the limb in which that they will use to strike next, but my reaction time is still too slow to counter it."

"That an interesting way to utilize your sensory skills. Not only good for tracking, but also in combat."

Rin shrugged. "Well, I don't have the Sharingan, so got to keep up with you somehow right?" Itachi cracked a brief smile at her teasing jab.

* * *

All twenty two exam participants were waiting inside the testing room, sitting in clumps based on their unspoken alliances. Most groups had three or four members, the largest alliance was six people. Rin and Itachi were the only pair, while two participants, a Hyuuga and another Uchiha were lone wolves.

"I'm surprised that no one has tried to team up with you," Rin whispered to Itachi, who seemed to be completely at ease while Rin tried to size up their competition.

"Well I asked my cousin to join us," Itachi said, jerking his head in the direction of the older Uchiha. "But he is adamant that he wants to pass on the basis of his own merit. Undoubtedly, the Uchiha clan will believe that I carried him through the exams if we worked together."

"That's awful."

Itachi merely shrugged. "The elders of the Uchiha clan have a very conservative mindset. They don't approve of a lot of things, like me being friends with Shisui who is considered to be apart of the branch family, or how much time Shisui and I spent with Hatake senpai since he's an outsider. They even had a lot of choice words to say about you healing us, since you found out some clan secrets, but their opinions don't really matter. Shisui and I will continue to do what we want."

Rin huffed. "I didn't even find out any clan secrets. All I know is that your Sharingan can change shapes, but I don't understand what it means."

"It's an advanced form of the Sharingan which contains greater powers than the normal Sharingan," Itachi explained. "However, overuse will cause blindness."

"And why are you telling me this? Isn't that supposed to be a clan secret?"

"Maybe I am optimistic that you will find a way to stop the blindness," Itachi said. "So far, our clan medics don't have much of a solution other than to not use it. The only known way to stop blindness is to implant a sibling's eyes, who also unlocked the advanced form."

"But that's…"

"Uchiha Madara was the only one who was known to have done that; however, the possibility that greed can drive another to do the same thing is unsettling. So…"

"I understand," Rin told him. "I'll work on it."

Shikaku appeared in the room, cutting their conversation short. All of the low murmurs in the room died out.

"Lesson number two: you must be able to look past deception. What may seem to be useless could very well be the most useful information. For those who didn't fill out the questionnaire or answer the bonus question are disqualified."

From there, Shikaku began listing off names. Six people stood up and left, leaving a remainder of sixteen people.

"The second part of the exam will take place at five o'clock today at Training Ground 10," Shikaku stated. "You will be pitted against a randomly matched opponent to assess your combat skills. In my hand are the questionnaires that you have filled out, each person will receive a copy of each participant's answers. Whether or not you use them is your discretion. Lesson number three: a jonin has good judgment."

After distributing the papers, Shikaku waved them off. The group dispersed, the participants no longer hanging around with their unspoken comrades as there was a possibility that they would be pitted against each other in the next test. Rin wagered most either went to train or were going to study up with the info sheets that were given.

"There's no way to know whether or not these are reliable or not," Rin stated as she casually flipped through the sheets of paper. "It's almost better to go in blind than with the wrong information."

"Perhaps this is another test to see if we are able to gather accurate information knowing that we are given unreliable information," Itachi hypothesized.

"How? Follow the ones who decide to go training? Even so, I don't think they will show their true strength in a simple spar."

"We'll break into the Hokage's archives," Itachi suggested. "There's bound to be information on our competitors in there. For the jonin exams, they would have separated the files from the rest of the shinobis, so it will be easy to find."

"What? We'll get caught," Rin sputtered, completely taken aback that Itachi dared to suggest such a thing. Besides, Rin had already been busted once for stealing something from Minato sensei; she didn't need to add a second offense to her record.

"I'll do the sneaking in," Itachi said. "You will distract Hokage sama while I do it. With my Sharingan, I will commit all of the files to memory and I can recreate them afterwards."

Reluctantly, Rin agreed to the plan, seeing that Itachi seemed to have the utmost confidence that it would work. "I've been inside of the Hokage's archives before. Minato sensei has placed sensory seals in a lot of places, so that he knows who is in there at all times. I can draw you a map of the layout and where all of the seals are located, but there aren't many blind spots since the seals have a pretty large range."

The two of them stepped inside of a dango shop. While Itachi went to order, Rin grabbed a napkin and began to sketch on top of it, placing x's where the seals are located. Itachi returned with a few skewers of dango, offering one to Rin. She took it, biting into the first one, while she continued to finish the map.

After she finished, Rin passed the map to Itachi, who studied it intently.

"Do you know the range?"

"I think for those particular seals, it extends about a meter out."

"Do you know how big the area is?"

Rin gave him a rough estimate of its dimensions and using the scale that Rin drew on the napkin, Itachi began to do some calculations. Rin watched as Itachi circled two spots on the map.

"As expected of the Hokage. Only two blind spots, if our estimates are correct."

"He'll be aware of your presence in the archives."

"The only option is to impersonate someone else's chakra. Someone who would normally have access to the archives."

"Is that even possible?" Rin questioned.

"Ah, probably not," Itachi admitted. "I suppose the most I can do is suppress my normal chakra signature as much as possible and create a generic one, so that won't be able to pinpoint it to me. Now, here's the plan…"

* * *

"Those two are certainly interesting, aren't they?" Shikaku commented to Minato, who was shaking his head in amusement after Rin left, after having barged into the room to request for a spar in preparation for the second part of her exams. Minato had declined, citing the amount of paperwork he had to finish. When Rin didn't leave after his refusal, Minato was immediately suspicious. Still, he went along with whatever she was plotting, pretending to listen to whatever she was saying.

Minato felt a slight tug of his chakra, indicating that his seals had sensed a foreign presence in the Hokage's archives. Subtly, Rin's body shifted so that it faced in the direction of the archives.

So she got an accomplice this time? Minato mused, but made no move to stop the infiltrator. After all, he had an inkling that it had something to do with the jonin exams.

"Breaking into the Hokage's archives isn't part of the exam, is it?" Minato asked, eyes narrowing at the prospect that Shikaku would neglect to mention that particular detail to him.

"Of course not," Shikaku immediately denied. "The test was set up to test one's ability to gather information. I imagined something along the lines of spying on the other participants or talking to those who are close to them...not something this troublesome."

"But I suppose it's not outside of the parameters that you set them," Minato mused. "The files are still there, aren't they?"

"Yes. I reckoned the Uchiha boy copied all of the files with his Sharingan."

"Ah so the accomplice was Itachi?" That was certainly interesting.

Shikaku cocked his head slightly to the left. "I thought your seals could detect one's identity?"

"Under normal circumstances," Minato corrected. "But I suppose I might have told Rin a little too much, so she knew how the seals worked. If I had been a bit sloppier with my work, they might have taken advantage of the blind spots and gotten away undetected. Still, they're the only ones crazy enough to actually do it."

"An unexpected alliance. The next stages of the exam will certainly be interesting."

Interesting, indeed. Minato couldn't wait.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again!**

**I think this jonin exams arc really highlights how bad I am at writing fight scenes (I try, but then it doesn't come out as cool as I hope so oh well). Sorry to disappoint!**

**There were some spacing issues and I think I have fixed it all, but let me know if you see anything amiss. **

**So a guest review mentioned to me to write Itachi/Kakashi training arc. If I do write one, it won't be included in the story, but as I am writing, I realize that I do leave a lot of subplots hanging so I will most likely be writing bonus chapters once the original story is finished. So leave your suggestions along the way and I might get around to it!**

**Posting early this time because my irresponsible self wanted to write more this weekend rather than study so that's good for you all, but not for me haha. Next chapter title is naturally Jonin Exam Part II. There will be three parts in total and after that, we will get to some fun stuff (missions, and other things). :) **

**Thank you for reading and until next time!**

**-MM**


	10. Jonin Exams Part II

**Chapter Nine: Jonin Exams Part II**

At a nearby tree, Jiraiya was already perched atop a branch, scribbling some last minute notes about ideas for his next novel before the match ups began. Below in the clearing, all sixteen participants were present, along with Shikaku who dropped a box onto the ground next to him.

"I think this part of the exam is self explanatory," Shikaku drawled. "Your matchups will be decided based on the names that are drawn out of the box." At that, Shikaku jerked his head in the direction of the white box on the ground.

"The battle will take place within this clearing," Shikaku continued. "You may use the first two rows of trees, but nothing past that. The east side will be off limits as that will be where the spectators will be located. The match will continue until one of you surrenders or is unable to continue. I reserve the right to call the matches as I see fit to prevent unnecessary deaths. Now-"

A flash of yellow appeared into the clearing, cutting off Shikaku. Shikaku shot an amused look at the man who appeared next to him, who wore a sheepish smile on his face, apologizing for his tardiness. A chorus of greetings of "Hokage sama" emitted throughout the clearing.

"Well now that the Hokage has arrived, we can begin the second stage of the exams," Shikaku drawled. He bent down, swiping the box off of the ground before tipping it in Minato's direction. Minato reached his hand into the box, rummaging around for a few seconds before drawing two pieces of paper from the box.

"Itachi Uchiha and Daisuke Uchiha," Minato called, after reading the unfurled papers. No one missed the vicious glare that Daisuke shot at Itachi, to which Itachi didn't give an outward indication that he noticed it.

But like everyone else present in the clearing, he definitely noticed it.

"Looks like bad blood," Asuma whispered. Two guys around him nodded their heads in agreement as their eyes were fixated to the clearing, where Itachi and Daisuke stood face to face, just an arms length away from each other. Minato gave the signal to start before teleporting away, landing right next to Jiraiya.

Neither Uchiha made a move. Itachi's eyes were closed, with his hands forming a ram seal, while Daisuke's eyes were open, Sharingan blazing red.

"Oi, why aren't they doing anything?" an Inuzuka whispered.

Right as those words left the Inuzuka's mouth, Daisuke moved, backflipping as he let a kunai sail with deadly accuracy towards Itachi right before he landed. Daisuke was in the middle of forming the hand seals for a fireball jutsu when the kunai drove into Itachi's heart, earning varying shocked expressions from the spectators. Moments later, Itachi disappeared, turning into a flock of crows that flew towards Daisuke, ready to attack his face. He unleashed the fireball jutsu, disintegrating the crows out of existence.

Daisuke's head jerked sharply around the clearing, trying to pinpoint Itachi's real location, but something in his movements were off. Rin reached out to feel his chakra.

"A genjutsu," Rin whispered in awe, upon feeling Daisuke's disturbed chakra network.

Another one of Itachi's clones appeared in the clearing. Daisuke's senses latched onto the presence immediately and moved to engage Itachi in a taijutsu fight. While Itachi's display of taijutsu was with fluidity, Daisuke's moves were jerky, leading him to failing to block the various cuts and hits that Itachi managed to land.

Upon closer inspection, a grin was present on Daisuke's lips.

The real Itachi Uchiha appeared before them, settling himself next to Rin. His sudden appearance startled a few people.

"Aren't you supposed to be down there?" the Inuzuka asked, his eyes flickering to the Itachi in the trees and the Itachi in the clearing, who was gearing up to put an end to the match.

"The battle will end in the next fifteen seconds," Itachi merely stated. Their attentions were turned back onto the battle in the clearing, where Daisuke was shouting something about Itachi's skills being overpraised. Clone Itachi released the genjutsu. Daisuke's head jerked backwards at the sudden change of scenes, undoubtedly his mind was reeling from processing an uninjured Itachi before him and the pain from his various wounds.

Clone Itachi raised a kunai at Daisuke, the sharp tip against his throat.

"Yield."

Seeing no other choice, Daisuke yielded and Shikaku called the match.

From two trees away, Jiraiya whistled in appreciation.

"Perhaps you are right Minato, there are some promising candidates in this batch," Jiraiya admitted. "His genjutsu skills are exceptional to the point where another Sharingan was unable to detect it…"

"Well, he did learn from the best," Minato mused as Shikaku called up the next two matches.

Three more matches had passed. Rin took the time to analyze each of their moves, mentally filing away the information in case she needed to fight them in the later stages of the exam. For the most part, the information that Itachi stole from the Hokage's archives were accurate, just slightly outdated. As expected, the questionnaires contained a mix of half truths and lies.

The combat stage of the exam was placed unusually early in the exams. Typically, it was always the last stage regardless of whether it was the chunin or jonin exams, which usually prompted them to showcase their true potential. But for them to place it as the second stage of the exam, those who revealed their true skills would be at a disadvantage in the later stages, if they made it through.

Rin finally understood why Itachi had chosen to defeat Daisuke with genjutsu. It was a known strong suit of Itachi, plus not many people could effectively counter it. Besides that, it still kept a lot of Itachi's skills a mystery: exactly how much mastery over the Sharingan did he have? Did Itachi know any ninjutsu other than the Uchiha's trademark fireball jutsu? Did he prefer the use of weapons or fists in combat?

She didn't have time to ask Itachi to confirm her speculations as she heard her name being called along with Ichiro Hyuga. Rin hopped down into the clearing, landing gracefully on her feet on the soft grass.

Without so much of a word, Shikaku began the match before disappearing off into the trees. Ichiro activated the Byakugan, the veins around his eyes becoming visible as he maneuvered himself into a typical Hyuga stance.

Being on the same team as the Yellow Flash and Copy Ninja meant that she was overlooked, but that also meant no one knew much about Rin's abilities, which worked to her favor in this instance. She would have to be careful to not reveal too much of her abilities.

"You should give up," Ichiro suggested, his tone reeking of arrogance. "A clanless nobody can never win against me."

Rin didn't rise to take his bait. Instead, her mind was running through her different options. According to the stolen information, Ichiro learned the Hyuga fighting style and relied heavily on it, which meant he was a close combat fighter. A long range battle would be in her favor, but Rin didn't really have any long range finishing moves. Not to mention, the Byakugan granted him virtually a 360 degree view of his surroundings. Surprise attacks were out of question.

Then…

Rin leapt towards Ichiro, forming chakra scalpels in both hands. She ducked to the left as Ichiro made the first move, jabbing two fingers that would have surely cut off chakra circulation to her left arm if it hadn't met air.

Her combination of training with Tsunade and Itachi helped her to effectively predict Ichiro's every move. Compared to Itachi and Shisui, Ichiro was surprisingly slow, which made her able to match his every move, blow for blow. Rin never let his gentle fist technique get too close to her chakra points, forcing Ichiro to retreat with every blow unless he wanted to be skewered by her chakra scalpels.

"You're not the only one who can see the chakra network," Rin told him through gritted teeth as she forced his back against a tree. Ichiro dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way right as her chakra scalpel made contact with the bark of the tree, sending pieces of bark flying. It left a cut three inches deep.

Spinning on the heels of her foot, Rin managed to slice through the nerves in Ichiro's right arm, while she suffered from his gentle fist technique slamming into the chakra point, effectively cutting off chakra circulation to below her left elbow. After exchanging blows, both of them leaped to create distance between them. Ichiro groaned in pain as his left hand moved to cover the bleeding wound.

The stinging pain from being jammed with his gentle fist technique was still there and Rin quickly hovered her right hand over the area to mitigate the pain while fixing the nerves and blood vessels that were damaged in the process.

"You won't be able to heal that," Ichiro told her, a smirk present on his face despite suffering greater wounds than she did.

"We'll see about that," Rin told him. Tossing a smoke bomb into the clearing, Rin darted away from the area, hiding in one of the nearby trees in the midst of the smoke. Leaning her back against the trunk of the tree, Rin mentally opened up one of her reservoirs of chakra, allowing the chakra to stream steadily down to her left arm, where the chakra block was.

The block remained intact, but Rin continued to pour more chakra through. Even the strongest dam could break under enough pressure and Rin believed the same principle applied to chakra blocks. Still, channelling the right amount of chakra to the chakra block to ensure that her chakra network didn't rupture from overload was no easy feat.

She got far enough to feel the chakra block budge a bit, allowing a slight trickle of her chakra to bypass it, before Ichiro shot three kunais in her direction. Rin hopped out of the tree as the kunais sank into the trunk of the tree with a loud thunk. Ichiro compensated for his useless right arm by fighting at an angle, so that his right side was further away from her. She traded a couple of blows with Ichiro before spotting an opening in his stance. Hooking her right foot around Ichiro's knees, Rin yanked, bringing Ichiro to the ground.

Undeterred, Ichiro aimed for the chakra point in her left calf. Tossing a kunai at the ground, it halted Ichiro's hand from making contact with her skin and bought her enough time to leap out of his reach. With senbons already lodged between the fingers in her right hand, Rin launched them at Ichiro. Ichiro got back on his feet in a record time, spreading his feet before moving to whirl in a rotation. The sphere of chakra that formed around him knocked back her senbon, letting them uselessly fall to the ground.

The block broke and Rin relished in the feeling of chakra flowing through her left hand once more. Once Ichiro stopped his rotation, Rin immediately darted at him, not wanting to give him an opportunity to see that her left hand was functioning once more. Ichiro countered her first blow easily, but he hadn't anticipated her to move with such speed to use the heel of her chakra coated palm to push his left hand away from her, sending it jerking backwards upon impact, leaving his body completely open.

Her left hand took advantage of the opening, once again forming a chakra scalpel. The tip of it was mere centimeters away from Ichiro's throat.

In the trees, low murmurs of speculations of how Rin was able to form chakra in her left hand despite having it blocked off pervaded the silence that had fallen on the group, as they had quickly become enraptured into the right. Itachi, who had his Sharingan activated the entire time, was the only one who understood exactly what Rin had done.

The Hyuga was right; no one expected the clanless kunoichi to win against a member from a prestigious clan. Yet there they were, watching Ichiro yield.

"How?" Ichiro asked through gritted teeth as Rin let her chakra scalpel fizzle out of existence. This time, her hands glowed green as she approached him, peeling off the hastily done bandages. "Medical ninjutsu won't undo the block."

"It wasn't medical ninjutsu," Rin told him as she began to reattach his nerves and repair the muscles that she had sliced through. "I merely only used it to heal some of the blood vessels that you ruptured."

"Then how?" Ichiro prodded.

"There, all done," Rin informed Ichiro. Although she could have healed him all the way, Rin had purposely left the skin wound unhealed. Perhaps the stinging pain would serve as a reminder of his loss today. "Change the bandages every couple hours; don't let it get reinfected."

With that, Rin left Ichiro in the clearing, rejoining the others in the trees. Out of curiosity, the other prodded for her secret like Ichiro did, but Rin firmly kept her mouth shut. Their attention on her quickly waned as the next matchup was called.

When the second round of the exams finished, all sixteen shinobis were called back down into the clearing. Shikaku rattled off a list of names, dismissing six more people from the exams.

"It's not only about winning, but about how you win," Shikaku lectured. "A jonin must go into a battle with a clear mind, not riddled with emotions. Sometimes, a functioning mind can make the difference between life and death.

"Now, the next stage of the exam will take place tomorrow morning. Meet me at Konoha's gates. Dismissed."

And then they were down to ten. The eight other participants had dispersed. Rin and Itachi moved to leave, to head back to her apartment and the Uchiha compound respectively, when Minato approached them.

"Kushina instructed me to bring the two of you over for dinner," Minato explained. Upon seeing Itachi's tense posture, Minato added, "Kakashi and Shisui will be there. Shisui has already informed your mother that you will be having dinner at my house."

"Alright," Itachi conceded. Rin agreed as well, and Minato turned towards his sensei for a response.

"I think I'll pass this time," Jiraiya drawled. "Good luck with the rest of your exams, you two." Shooting a fond look towards the both of them, Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke, gone off to who knows where.

His sensei's words still rung in Minato's ears even after he was long gone.

_The girl will make a formidable kunoichi in the future. _Minato didn't doubt that in the slightest. Peering over at his student, Minato let a small smile grace his features.

_Perhaps I am being too selfish by keeping her in the village, _Minato thought to himself. Minato deluded himself into thinking that Rin needed to stay in the village to keep her safe, to keep the sanbi safe, but in actuality, Minato had simply been worried about sending her out on missions, especially after the last mission which had turned into a disaster.

Seeing her battle today, Minato finally realized that she could hold her own. Rin could protect herself. At that moment, Minato resolved to place her back on the active mission roster after Rin was promoted to jonin.

The promotion was inevitable, after all.

* * *

The house was so much more lively, with all of Team Ro in attendance, plus Rin. Upon seeing Itachi and Rin, Shisui immediately jumped on the opportunity to grill them on the details of the exam.

"You ask like you didn't contribute a few ideas for the exam," Kakashi commented wryly, saving Itachi from having to answer Shisui's barrage of questions.

"Well I wanted to see which one of my ideas were actually used," Shisui argued.

"And Minato sensei told you a fair bit of it were," Kakashi countered.

"No offense Hokage sama, but politicians tend to lie, a lot." Minato laughed upon hearing Shisui's comment, but Kushina took to whacking the top of Shisui's head. Shisui made a noise of surprise before his hand moved to rub the sore spot.

"You still keep these punks around?" Kushina questioned, gesturing with her ladle wildly in the general direction of the four kids. "You need to replace them."

"They're some of the village's best shinobis," Minato argued. "I can't just replace them. Besides, I know that you secretly love them all."

"I did like Rin until she lied to me." At that, Kushina pointed her ladle straight at her. Rin gulped, thankful that she wasn't sitting closer to Kushina. No doubt, Kushina wanted to hit her for tricking Kushina during her last visit.

"Ahhh, sorry about that Kushina nee," Rin apologized sincerely.

"Pfft, you better be. You're only forgiven because I heard you kicked Hyuga's ass today."

That instigated a barrage of questions from Shisui at how she had exactly done that.

It had been a while since Kakashi found himself to be this content, sitting down for a simple dinner with his closest comrades, trading occasional jabs with Shisui and Kushina, seeing the weariness on his sensei's face fade away as Kushina's energy was contagious. To even see the clan heir let down his stiff facade, something Kakashi hadn't seen since Shisui's almost death, was startling. As Anbu captain of Team Ro, Kakashi worked tirelessly, mission after mission, to make sure all threats were eliminated. Seeing Rin sitting in front of him, alive and safe, made it all worth it.

After all, he swore to Obito that he would protect her.

Tonight, Kakashi felt like he had a family and even felt a surge of happiness when Kushina announced that she was pregnant, earning a chorus of "congratulations" from the four younger ninjas.

Yet Kakashi was foolish, simply too foolish to have believed that it would have lasted. He had gotten his hopes up again, only for it to come tumbling down, leaving his heart shattered into a million pieces.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**As you may know, my fight scenes typically are short because I find it really hard to write "talk no jutsu" lol. Like in the anime, there's so many openings that they could have taken advantage of (and end the fight quickly), but no, they have spend the time talking and that's why fights are so dragged out (re: the time travel arc in Boruto). **

**By the way, does anyone actually watch Boruto consistently? I usually forget it exists until a year or so later, then I just browse through the interesting arcs (cough* arcs featuring old characters). Anyone else? **

**Sorry for the short chapter (but I did update twice this week to make up for it :). I was going to combine part 2 and 3 of the exams together, but then the chapter would have turned out to be really long. Do you prefer long or short chapters? Most of the chapters in this story will be in the 3000 to 5000 word range. **

**As for a writing update, I think I'm getting close to the end. But as I say this, I'm probably going to end up writing more for no reason lol. There's one more major arc that I have to finish (maybe one or two minor ones if they come to me) and then I'll be done! I'm super excited to get this done, so I can post faster without worrying that I'll run out of content before I get around to writing. So far, it's looking to be at least a 150k word story and definitely 40+ chapters, so I hope that you guys are ready to continue on this journey with me. **

**Next chapter is called Jonin Exams Part III. Honestly, did you expect anything more creative than that from me? haha. **

**Thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	11. Jonin Exams Part III

**Chapter Ten: Jonin Exams Part III**

The ten remaining jonin hopefuls listened intently to Shikaku's instructions on the next phase in the jonin exams. The parameters of the exam was simple enough: half of them would receive scrolls, while the other half would remain empty-handed. The ten shinobis needed to survive five days within the Land of Fire and emerge with a scroll by the end of it to be considered successful.

Yet, the mission was a lot harder than it seemed.

For one, the Land of Fire spanned a vast amount of territory, which put the ones without a scroll at a disadvantage, unless they had some tracking skills. It gave the ones with a scroll a lot of options to hide out until the five days were over. However, assuming most of the shinobis had expected the exam to finish within the day, no one really thought to pack any provisions. At the very least, that would force the ones with scrolls to come out of hiding if they wanted to survive.

Secondly, there were a lot of variables to consider. Undoubtedly, those with the scrolls would have the burden of protecting it for five days. It didn't matter who held onto the scrolls for the longest duration, but rather who was in possession of it in the end.

"Sometimes a predator can easily turn into prey and vice versa," Shikaku told them. "You must be able to adapt to changing circumstances on a whim."

The third complication was the uncertainty of unspoken alliances in this round. It was true that the alliances hadn't really done much for them in the previous rounds, but this stage seemed to lend itself to teamwork. Or possibly betrayal because the odds of all members of a team possessing a scroll were minimal. Even Rin was beginning to have doubts on whether this would be the round where she would be pitted against Itachi.

Minato would transport each shinobi to a different location in the Land of Fire, one by one, with his teleportation technique. An ingenious idea to ensure no one could start out with an alliance or know who was in possession of a scroll.

Itachi and Rin hovered at the back of the group, while Minato went to work, already transporting three of them, and coming back for a fourth.

"Use your sensory skills to track me down," Itachi whispered to her. "I won't move."

Only four shinobis left, two more aside from them.

"Wait." Rin bit her thumb, forming the sequence to activate her summoning. A very small form of Katsuyu appeared and Rin quickly ordered for her to split into two. Pocketing one of the Katsuyu, Rin handed the other half to Itachi, who took it warily. "We can use this to communicate."

That was all that Rin could tell him before Minato grabbed Itachi's arm, whisking him miles away. Barely fifteen seconds later, Minato returned, this time grabbing onto her own arm, jerking her along. Minato had taken her to an empty clearing, trees surrounding her from all sides.

A soft expression graced Minato's features.

"Good luck," Minato told his former student. "I'm so proud of you."

Without giving Rin a chance to respond, Minato whisked away, landing once more at the front gates of Konoha five seconds slower than his usual speed. Any longer than that, Minato might have been suspected of foul play and favoritism.

The Aburame clan had been especially helpful for this portion of the exam, lending their insects to be implanted with cameras. After letting their bugs loose to cover the vast territory, the higher ups would be able to see what went on in the forest and assess which chunin showed the capabilities to be promoted.

"It'll be a long five days," Shikaku sighed as he entered the control room, where ten grainy screens showed various images of different locations in the Land of Fire. The bugs were still moving, trying to lock on to the ten chunin's chakra signatures.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, the first thing that Rin did was pull Katsuyu out from her weapons pouch, asking her if Itachi had any updates on his whereabouts. Katsuyu replied with a negative. Rin concentrated, feeling for any signs of another chakra signature, but felt none.

Resigning herself to her fate, Rin tore off into the trees, looking to find a landmark so she would where to begin reuniting with Itachi.

A brief notion of not meeting up with Itachi if Rin was one of five to receive the scroll did cross her mind, but even that had just been enough to evoke an enormous amount of guilt. The clan heir had been nothing but kind to her and proved to be loyal to a fault and here she was, with thoughts of betrayal on her mind. And Rin even suspected Itachi had only decided to participate in this jonin exam because either Shisui or Kakashi tipped him off on the advantage of having an alliance.

Shaking all thoughts of betrayal out of her mind, Rin focused on her task at hand, doubling her efforts to find some sort of landmark.

From her shoulder, Katsuyu informed Rin that Itachi had found his way to the Uchiha hideout right as she spotted a lake. Plucking open one of the pockets in her flak jacket, Rin caught the tiny scroll that fell out. Rin unrolled it, spreading it on the ground, using two rocks to hold the map into place while Katsuyu relayed Itachi's description of his location to her.

"My sensory skills have a range of about five kilometers. If I am correct about your current location, then I am about fifty kilometers away from you."

Just her luck, to be placed in the center of the forest while Itachi was close to the edge of. However, if her understanding of Fire's territory served to be correct, then the Uchiha hideout was located somewhere near Kyoshi Pass, where Rin had been stationed for the last bit of war. Just as well, as Rin knew there were some provisions that Konoha left behind after the war ended.

After instructing Itachi to stay put, Rin began taking off in the northeast direction.

Back at the Hokage Tower, the spectators had been thoroughly impressed by Itachi and Rin's coordination and trust in each other. However, they would soon find out whether or not the trust held once Rin figured out Itachi was in possession of a scroll while she was not.

"That was on purpose, wasn't it?" Kakashi questioned. "For Itachi to have a scroll, while Rin doesn't?"

"Well they made it glaringly obvious that they were a team since the first stage," Shikaku grunted. "I wanted to test how far their loyalties will go."

"Then shouldn't it be the other way around?" Jiraiya questioned. "The Uchiha is stronger than the girl, so the girl would be foolish to attack him. If she was smart, she would take advantage of her alliance with him to help herself obtain a scroll."

"That's not necessarily the case," Shisui interjected. "Itachi's fighting style is very conventional of an Uchiha's. Rin's fighting style is unpredictable and she has many wild cards up her sleeve. Look how quickly she was able to figure out how to counter the Hyuga's technique. Besides, Itachi's has pledged his loyalty to her ever since Rin saved his life. He would give up his scroll if she asked."

"Guess we'll find out soon, won't we?" Shikaku commented, gesturing towards the screen, where Rin had just arrived at the remnants of Kyoshi Pass. After saying something that they couldn't hear since the Aburame bugs were only equipped with video and not audio, Rin bent down to the dirt. Her fingers trailed against the dirt, leaving a faint trail in its wake.

It was somewhere around here, Rin remembered, having been one of the ones who was ordered to bury their supplies. It had been a last minute order from their commander, who was already preparing for their retreat from the post upon receiving word that an army of Iwa nins would reach them in ten minutes. With most of their forces consisting of the injured and medic personnels, they didn't stand a chance.

Rin recalled her dilemma as she worked with her comrades to bury Konoha's remaining supplies. Abandoning the post would mean leaving their injured comrades behind to die since there was no time to evacuate them as well. Rin desperately wanted to stay behind back then, to share her final breaths with the shinobis who fought valiantly in the war, but one of her superiors tugged her along, as the well abled turned to flee.

If she stayed behind, Rin certainly would have died as she was a nobody, a kunoichi with no particular talents save for her medical ninjutsu. She wasn't the Yellow Flash, who could single handedly wipe out an entire Iwa force.

After the invasion, Rin had went back once, to find everything burned to the ground. The entire area was deathly silent.

Coming back five years after the end of the war, Rin felt guilty for all of the comrades that she had abandoned. The comrades that she had left to die. Their bodies had been reduced into nothing but a pile of ashes, their names nothing more than a small etch on the memorial stone.

As if a reminder of the tragedy that took place, the grass never flourished again. Instead, all that remained was a barren space, save for the occasional weed or two that sprouted.

She found it. Rin began digging the spot with her bare hands, piling the loose dirt to the side. Less than a meter deep, Rin found the wooden box. Using chakra to aid her, Rin grabbed the edges of the box, lifting it easily out of its hole. Rin had moved to open the lid when she felt a chakra signature heading her way, quickly.

On instinct, Rin pushed the box back down into its hole, haphazardly pushing the dirt to cover the box once more. Three seconds later, Rin had a kunai in hand as the nin hopped down into the dirt.

Asuma Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's son.

"Rin san," Asuma greeted politely, clearly having remembered her from their academy days. Or perhaps it was because of Rin's association of Kurenai Yuhi, who had been on the same genin team as Asuma.

Rin returned Asuma's greeting with wariness. What did Asuma want with her? Rin didn't have a scroll to lose, but it was possible he would fight her for the provisions that she found.

"I don't have a scroll if that's what you are after," Rin told him.

As expected, Asuma didn't believe her. "You could be bluffing. We may have been classmates; however, I can't show you any mercy." His apology was left unspoken as Asuma darted forward, his two chakra blades already looped through his fingers. A blue hue coated the metal, forming a sharp edge that was as deadly as her own chakra scalpels.

The clang of metal permeated through the air, kunai against his chakra blade. Rin ducked out of the way as his other chakra blade came slashing down at her, nicking her in the shoulder, but doing nothing more than skin damage. Rin backflipped away from Asuma, noting the cut that his blade made into her kunai.

In that case, Rin couldn't risk using her flute and letting it become damaged.

Rin felt the buildup of the wind style attack in Asuma's chest before she saw it. In preparation for the jutsu, Rin began crafting a genjutsu, one where it would show her being heavily injured in his jutsu. She had successfully launched the genjutsu right as Asuma blew a gust of wind, strong enough to blow enough dirt into the air to create a miniature sandstorm.

Within the chaos, Rin hastily tied a cloth around her face before shielding her face to avoid the worst of the storm. Navigating blindly in the sandstorm, Rin dropped down to where she had left the box, yanking it out of its hole once more. Grabbing an empty scroll from one of the many pockets in her flak jacket, Rin quickly unrolled it, paintbrush already in hand to draw the necessary seals.

Rin felt Asuma's chakra shift, indicating that he had broken through the first layer of her genjutsu. What he saw now was the landscape, except Rin was nowhere in sight. Even so, the genjutsu wouldn't hold long, not when Asuma had been training with Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist, so Rin had to hurry.

In under twenty seconds, Rin finished the seal. Tucking the paintbrush back into her weapons pouch, Rin made the necessary hand seals, slamming her hand down onto the paper at the end. The box disappeared and a kanji appeared in the center of the circle. Rolling the scroll once more, Rin tucked it back into her pocket before casting one more genjutsu, to cover up the gaping hole in the ground.

Then she fled, just as the sandstorm settled and Asuma broke through the second layer of the genjutsu. Still by then, Rin was gone, leaving him to stare at the barren landscape once more.

While she travelled through the trees, Rin shook the dirt out of her hair, brushing the dirt off of her arms and clothes to the best of her abilities.

Five minutes away from Kyoshi Pass, Rin detected Itachi's chakra. It was faint, so either he was suppressing his chakra or he was far away, but at least he was somewhere in a five kilometer radius.

Rin continued to head south, feeling Itachi's presence to be a bit stronger the more distance she covered.

"Tell Itachi that someone is heading in his direction, coming from the south." The other chakra signature didn't seem to be hunting down Itachi, but rather it seemed that the person just happened to be wandering in the area. If that was the case, then this was their chance to see if they could obtain one of the two scrolls that they needed.

The chakra signature passed Itachi's location. At this rate, Rin would run head on to the chakra signature in approximately four minutes, if she continued to move at her current speed. She felt Itachi's chakra signature dim down as it moved closer to the other target, closing in from that person's east side.

"I'm going to engage," Rin told Katsuyu, who would undoubtedly relay that information to Itachi.

That had been the plan, until Rin felt Itachi's chakra signature appearing next to the unknown person. Two seconds later, both of their chakra signatures flared with such intensity, indicating that they had engaged in battle. Rin remained perched on a nearby tree once she reached the battle location, ready to step in if needed.

But who was she kidding? Itachi Uchiha didn't need her help, not when he was capable of finishing the battle in under three minutes, emerging victorious with a scroll in hand. Itachi made quick work of bounding the unconscious shinobi and tying him against the trunk of the tree as Rin hopped down to the forest floor, joining him.

"Took you long enough to find me," Itachi commented.

"Ran into a bit of trouble," Rin responded, by way of an explanation, not that Itachi truly cared for an answer. Time wasn't the limiting factor in this stage as they were only nearing four hours into the seventy two hour long exam.

Rin followed Itachi to the Uchiha hideout, where he claimed would be safe for them to hideout while they discussed battle strategies.

"Step only where I step," Itachi instructed, his Sharingan spinning to life. "Anywhere else will set off the traps."

Rin nodded as Itachi took the first step into the cave. With each step Itachi took, he always made sure to turn back to check if Rin was ready and had memorized the location, before moving on.

It was a slow and arduous process. At one point, Rin had almost set off a trap by almost landing a few millimeters too far to the right, but Itachi caught her in time, shooting her a warning glare in the dark. Since then, Rin made sure to extra careful.

At the back of the cave, Rin almost wanted to collapse against the cave wall. Forty five minutes just to enter the cave, another forty five minutes to exit which made Rin consider not leaving the cave until the end of the exams. That was impossible, since they needed food and water, as well as another scroll.

"Did you start off with a scroll?" Rin inquired, upon realizing that she had just assumed Itachi didn't have one, just like her.

"Ah," Itachi responded, lighting up a torch on the wall with a quick fire jutsu. "I managed to steal another one earlier, if you need it."

"In that case, all we need to do is survive the next four days or so. I managed to snag some supplies from an abandoned post from the war, but I'm not sure how much food there is. We'll definitely have to leave to secure water." As she spoke, Rin opened the scroll once more, releasing the seal. The box poofed into existence on top of the scroll and Rin flipped the lid open, setting it onto the ground next to her. After lighting one more torch, Itachi joined her on the floor, peering into box.

"Medical supplies and dried provisions," Itachi stated as his hand riffled through the contents of the box.

"Probably all past the expiration date," Itachi mused upon inspecting the worn label of a can of dried beans. "Did you bring any supplies?"

"Only enough to last for a day," Rin admitted. "But if I am correct on the location of the Uchiha hideout, there should be a river about two kilometers south of here." At that, Rin pulled out her map of the Land of Fire once more, handing it over to Itachi.

Itachi accepted the pro-offered paintbrush, marking out the original mark Rin made on the map. He made a new mark, slightly southwest to her original mark.

"The ninneko of the Uchiha clan reside here," Itachi informed her, as he moved to stand up. "They won't appear in the presence of an outsider, but I can go see if they have some provisions to spare."

With Itachi disappearing into the shadows, Rin took the time to sort through the contents of the box. Most of the medical supplies had been soiled by the dirt that managed to fall through the cracks of box, but Rin managed to salvage them by cutting away the dirty outer layer of many bandage rolls and tapes. Sorting through the provisions, Rin noted that most of them were past the expiration date, save for one or two cans. She sealed them back into her scroll along the box, writing a note next to the seal to toss it out after the exam was over.

Itachi returned with two canteens of water and a few packets of dried provisions. Rin eyed the two cats that trailed stealthy behind him, one light gray with a ring of white around its left eye, while the other was light brown, with the outer tips of its ear a dark brown color.

"At birth, each Uchiha member is assigned a ninneko who can turn into our summoning animals if we wish. Momo is Shisui's and Akemi is mine," Itachi explained. "Momo, Akemi, this is Rin Nohara, my comrade."

Momo and Akemi padded both of their way towards Rin, jumping onto her lap before settling there. Rin was uncertain on what to do; if there was anything she learned from Kakashi's ninken, it was that they hated being treated like normal animals. Pakkun was especially vocal about that particular fact.

"You can touch them," Itachi informed her. "They have taken a liking towards you."

"But I'm not an Uchiha," Rin stated, while her fingers brushed lightly against Momo's fur.

"You once saved their master's lives. Their loyalty now extends towards you."

"So you have a summoning contract with them?"

"No," Itachi responded. "Both Shisui and I use crows as our summoning. Not many Uchihas use ninneko as their summons, so most just stay here. Akemi and Momo will return to Konoha with us, but for now, they will help us pass the exams."

* * *

Spying on chunins wandering around the forest was a surprisingly boring affair. For the most part, most chunins have opted to become lone wolves, rationing their supplies before taking off towards the rivers to hunt for fish and gather water.

A quick skirmish between an Inuzuka and a Akimichi happened in the first hour, where they ran into each other at a river. After accusing each other of possessing a scroll, when neither of them did, they engaged into a quick fight. Having been evenly matched, both of them were left with scores of cuts and bruises. The Akimichi made the wise decision to retreat and the Inuzuka did not bother to pursue.

Predictably, those with a scroll scouted for a decent hiding spot. Once their spot was established, they quickly began to set up traps in the vicinity. Two had chosen to leave their scrolls behind, one burying it into the ground, while the other stuffed it into a hole in the tree, before setting out to seek provisions.

A smart move in Shikaku's opinion. Even if they were faced with opposition, at least they wouldn't lose the scrolls. And few would think that they would hide it away from their person.

The third carried the scroll on his body, but was able to successfully defend it from the grasps of one of the scroll less competitors.

Shikaku knew that the stars of this particular jonin exam consisted of the Uchiha clan heir and the younger Sarutobi son. The Hokage was secretly rooting for his own student, but it seemed that as the exam progressed, the medic was gaining more attention from the other jonins.

First, she stood out to him when Shikaku realized she was the only one who had actually completed the exam. And made a perfect score in such time limitation. The second time was when Shikaku witness her beating a Hyuga from the main branch, having figured out how to counter his gentle fist technique. Even now, no one was able to figure out how she had done it, save for Itachi who tracked her moves with his Sharingan.

Clearly Shikaku wasn't the only one who had grown to be enraptured by the unpredictable kunoichi. That much had been made clear when the various jonins serving as spectators commented on her every move.

It had started off with Jiraiya pointing out her summoning of Katsuyu, using that as a method of correspondence between Itachi and herself. Then it had been Inoichi who complimented on her preparedness, to have a map of the Land of Fire on hand.

Shikaku's eyes did flickered to Itachi's screen. The boy had simply settled in front of a cave, choosing to mediate, only moving slightly to respond to the summoning on his shoulder.

The jonins were hopeful that Rin's move to Kyoshi Pass would ensure a battle with Asuma, who was in the vicinity. As fun as it was analyzing everyone's strategic moves, it got boring after a few hours and the jonins hoped for another battle to keep it interesting.

Yet Rin was successfully able to capture their interests as she dug out a wooden box from the ground. Right as their curiosity of the contents of the box peaked, Rin shoved it back into the hole, moments before Asuma appeared in front of her.

Finally, the fight they had been hoping for. Except, the fight didn't last more than five minutes, as Rin effectively escaped within the sandstorm that Asuma had created. Asuma was left opponent less once more and took off to track down his next target.

The fourth shinobi who carried a scroll still hadn't found a decent hiding spot. It was his bad luck that he had to cross paths with Itachi Uchiha, who certainly had been tipped off by Rin, and was easily dealt with. It was hardly a battle worth watching, as it was clear who the victor would be from the moment Itachi dropped down from the trees.

It wasn't until Itachi and Rin made their way inside of the cave did the jonins realize that Rin had been able to retrieve the box. And it was then did they find out the contents of the box, supplies.

Like the ten participants, most of the jonins turned in for the night, save a few who remained on duty just in case anything exciting happened.

The next three days were dull, but that was expected. A couple more fights broke out, but none of it was remarkable, in Shikaku's opinion. The fights lacked strategy and were full of flashy jutsus rather than smarts, which made for a boring fight, especially having seen the same moves in the second round.

Itachi emerged from the cave to hunt for food and gather water once a day. All three times, Itachi didn't meet any trouble.

Asuma had successfully managed to invade one of the shinobi's hiding spots, disabling all of their traps and engaging into a fight for the scroll. He emerged victorious and his position quickly turned into that of a prey rather than a predator. Asuma sought refuge for the night in the highest tree that he could find.

At least Shikaku could count on Rin to keep him entertained. The group of jonins, including both the current and former Hokage, had been thoroughly caught off guard when the camera showed them what Rin was working on. Shikaku assumed it was another seal, but it turned out to be a message. For them.

_I know you're there. _

Rin's hand paused, almost like she was debating whether or not to write more.

_On a scale of one to ten, how troublesome is it being the proctor of this exam, Nara san? _

In that moment, Shikaku decided that Rin would be promoted, scroll or no scroll. That cheeky brat was a lot more perceptive than he had anticipated.

* * *

The fifth day, Itachi and Rin finally left the safety of the Uchiha hideout, on their way to return to Konoha. It was the last chance for the others to get the scroll, so both of them were on high alert, yet Rin couldn't pass up another chance to send another cheeky message to the ones who were monitoring them.

_Today's the day you can finally stop stalking sixteen year old girls. _

Itachi merely shook his head at her childish antics. For a twelve year old, Itachi was a lot more mature than Rin, but she didn't care. War had taken her childhood away from her and she wanted to enjoy some of it. Even if it was many years too late.

Itachi had noticed the bugs a lot earlier than Rin did, having seen them with his Sharingan, but figured it was part of the exam. It wasn't until Rin met up with Itachi, and felt two bugs with the same chakra did she finally figure out they weren't ordinary insects.

The two of them took their time nearing Konoha. The exam wouldn't end until another few hours and the closer they got to the gates, the riskier it was for their scrolls to be taken. Using her sensory skills, Rin took care to steer them away from the fights and other chakra presences, taking long detours.

In the end, it was inevitable they would have to run into someone. Except that someone happened to Asuma Sarutobi who tensed at their presence. His reaction could be attributed to two things: he now had a scroll to risk losing and he was outnumbered by two opponents that would not be easy to take down. Scratch that, he wouldn't be able to take them.

"Relax. If you don't attack, we won't attack," Rin stated, making a show of putting her kunai back into her holster. Rin jerked her head at Konoha's gates, which were right in view. Deciding to trust her, Asuma darted towards the gate, alongside them and the two cats that followed them.

They were the first to make it past the gates, three minutes before the exam was set to end.

Three minutes later, the seven other contestants made it through the gates. It wasn't clear who had the scroll and who didn't, but none of it mattered. While it was true that failure to obtain the scroll or losing the scroll was marked as a failure of the mission, what was more important was how they went about tracking down a scroll, surviving without the necessary supplies, and the strategies that they made.

Four of them passed. It was finally over.

"I'm so proud of you," Minato told her.

Hearing those words come from her sensei's mouth had never made her happier.

Finally, she had made something of herself.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Well this is my recreation of the Forest of Death stage except probably not as adrenaline inducing lol. Anyways, as I am writing, I have to constantly remind myself that Itachi is still a kid, which is super hard, since he's so mature for his age. (and I even made him older than he was in the original timeline). **

**This is it for the jonin exams. I know some of you may be wondering when the real parts begin, like the Kyuubi attack or the Uchiha Massacre and I wish I could write the interesting arcs one after another, but build up is necessary otherwise I would be going from Point A to Z. Like I said though, this story won't necessarily follow canon (so some canon arcs might not even happen :). But also, I also have thought through so many versions of how the Kyuubi attack will go (does it even happen, does it follow canon, does one die and not the other, does someone else who didn't die originally die?) that I will most likely write bonus chapters to entertain the scenarios that don't make it into the story. **

**Next chapter, we do have an Anbu infiltration mission coming up, so hopefully that'll be interesting? Plus the next chapter will lay the groundwork for a lot of things down the road. It's going to be called Team Ro - Complete.**

**Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your opinions!**

**-MM**


	12. Team Ro - Complete

**Chapter Eleven: Team Ro - Complete**

With Itachi returning to the ranks of Team Ro, the legendary three man squad returned on their relentless undertaking of S ranked mission after mission. Their mission success rate was still at an all time high of 98%, their record only marred by the one time that they had been ambushed on the way back.

Yet Minato hated the feeling of constantly sending three kids - they were still kids in his eyes, even if they didn't think so - to complete suicide missions. It was for the good of the village; someone had to complete the job, and it helped numbed their own pains. For Kakashi, the missions kept him distracted to the point where he only got nightmares thrice a week rather than daily. For Shisui, he needed the income to support his family as he was the sole earner for his large family. For Itachi, it was an opportunity for him to escape his overbearing father and his responsibility as clan heir. As Itachi grew older, the more responsibilities his father began to shove onto Itachi, already grooming him to become the next clan leader. Except, Itachi didn't want to become the clan head. Not when he would be subjected to listening to the stuffy Uchihas conservative ideology and having to distance himself from the branch family in order to maintain his "status."

Though unnecessary, Minato would certainly feel better if Team Ro had a medic on their team. And who better to be on their team other than his former student?

Since Rin had been tried before the council for insolence, the Anbu Commander's suggestion still rang in his ears. The Anbu wasn't particularly known for its medical division; there were a few that were always on standby at the hospital in case of an emergency. They had sworn to secrecy to never reveal the Anbu's identity.

There had never been a field medic in the Anbu. There wasn't enough capable field medics among their normal jonin and chunin ranks, much less in the Anbu.

Perhaps, Rin would be the first.

"Ne sensei, do you have another mission for me?" Rin asked, casually strolling into the Hokage's office. No one else was there, a solo mission?

"No. How do you feel about joining the Anbu?"

"Anbu? Wha-" The confusion danced around in her eyes, as her eyes seemed to dart around the room, seemingly unable to settle on one thing. Her body was stiffer than normal, but relaxed moments later.

"What brought this up?" Rin managed to force out, her mind still reeling at her sensei's question. Joining the Anbu? She hadn't really thought about it as she never saw herself as Anbu material. The Anbu that she knew - Kakashi, Shisui, and Itachi - were all leagues ahead of her. What could she, a recently promoted jonin, possibly contribute?

"The Anbu Commander has recommended you to join the Anbu. Your medical ninjutsu will be a great asset to the division."

"I'm not sure…" Rin responded hesitantly. "I'm happy where I am right now."

Minato's expression softened. "You don't have to lie to me, Rin. I know that you've been feeling left out since our team disbanded and Kakashi found a new team."

"I don't like being bounced from team to team," Rin admitted. "It's like we work together out of necessity; we don't communicate about anything other than the mission. Just as we learn each other's names, the mission is over and I'm placed on a new team."

The team dynamic wasn't there. The comfort of knowing that her comrade knew exactly how to cover her blind spot wasn't there. The idea of knowing that if she ever needed anything, she could go bother her teammates and they wouldn't scorn her for it. The fear of the possibility that her teammates could abandon her to complete their mission.

Beyond that, it felt like working with robots. Just a name, but no personality. It didn't matter whether it was Yuki or Dari or Ai or whoever, it was all the same. Just another name, with different skills sets.

There was one thing that remained consistent. Always upon finding out that she was the team medic, she would immediately be pushed to the sidelines. To serve as backup, her leader always said. To be on standby just in case anyone gets injured. It irked her to no end to be reverted back to her younger self, always standing back while others fought for her.

And when she was team leader, her subordinates were always skeptical of her abilities. Now that the war had ended, the newer generation of shinobis were being promoted at a later age. At sixteen years old, Rin was one of the youngest jonins. The chunins on her team doubted her abilities, as they were older and had more "experience," they claimed. Unlike Kakashi, Shisui, or Itachi, Rin didn't have a reputation, one that would command authority.

Hence the slew of barely successful missions, from her subordinates disregarding her battle plan to being ordered to not get involved in the fight, only to be able to help when they were already heavily injured.

Rin voiced all of her complaints to Minato, unleashing two months worth of pent up frustration. She had done the same to Team Ro, but Itachi didn't have any experience in leading a team, so he wasn't able to give sound advice. The only team, outside of the Anbu, that Kakashi led consisted of her and Obito, then her and Gai. And Shisui had only ever led teams with members that were younger than him.

"You could always consider becoming a jonin sensei," Minato suggested. "You were the only one on our team with the patience for it. You're also teaching Izumi, are you not?"

"No. What would I even teach them?" Rin questioned. "Unless they all want to become medical ninjas, there's nothing I can teach them."

"If you remain a regular jonin, I can't assign you to a regular team. I'm sure that you know your medical talents are useful on every team. However, if you consider joining Anbu, I might be able to pull some strings and put you on Team Ro."

Just as well, Rin would certainly keep the three prodigies alive. Besides, Minato knew that her skills complemented the other three's skills perfectly.

Since forming the unexpected team together, Minato had seen progress among the three prodigies. Prior to the Anbu, Shisui had taken Itachi under his wing, leading to both of them being especially proficient with genjutsu. Yet under Kakashi's tutelage, Itachi immensely improved his kenjutsu, as did Shisui, who could now wield more than just a tanto with proficiency. As a master of all five elements of chakra, Kakashi helped the two Uchiha cousins develop their secondary elements. Water for Itachi and lightning for Shisui. In return, Kakashi's use of the Sharingan had immensely improved, as did his genjutsu. Though nowhere near the Uchiha cousins' level, it was deadly enough to fool an average jonin.

As for Rin, she had skills that the three prodigies could never achieve. Medical ninjutsu and sensory skills. Her sensory skills combined with the Sharingan and Kakashi's ninken, Minato could foresee them to be one of the best tracking units. Not to mention, her vast chakra reserves and ability to transfer said chakra...chakra exhaustion would no longer be a detriment to their team. In fact, Minato would venture to say that in a couple of years, the team would nearly be unstoppable.

"Alright, I'll do it."

And it was in that moment, one of the most powerful teams, was formed. In time, Team Ro would go on to even surpass the Legendary Sannin's legacy as the most powerful team from Konoha. At their peak, all four member's names would be inserted in every Great Nation's bingo book, all shinobis would learn to fear their teamwork. If there was one, there was a marginal chance of winning. But if there were two or more?

Not a chance in hell.

* * *

Their first mission as a four member squad was sneaking into Iwa's Feudal Lord's study to steal some important documents. There had been rumors circulating that Iwa's Daimyo was planning another attack on Konoha, stemming from the dissatisfaction of the treaty terms, signed five years ago to end the war. Many Iwa shinobis were rumored to on the Daimyo's side, many of whom felt like Iwa could have won the war if the Tsuchikage hadn't yield. The Tsuchikage's own son was the leader of the revolt, to which the Tsuchikage had simply turned a blind eye, not wanting to engage in conflict with his own son.

Of course, that was all just a rumor.

The first order of business was to confirm the validity of those rumors. If the rumors proved to be true, then Shisui would use Kotoamatsukami to manipulate the mind of the Iwa Daimyo and the Tsuchikage's son to dissolve the faction. After all, underlings were nothing without a spearhead, unless there was another leader hidden in the mist.

And well, they would cross that bridge when it came to it.

As captain, Hound took lead in the formation, while Sparrow took right and Crow took left. Cat made up the rear in a diamond shaped formation.

Team Ro tore through the Land of Fire, rapidly approaching the Land of Earth. Ten kilometers away from the borders, Hound motioned for the team to rest for the night, while they went over last minute strategies.

Cat dug out the scroll, containing a map of the Land of Earth, from her weapons pouch. The location of the Daimyo's castle was marked on the map, about sixty kilometers from their current location. Cat had also managed to secure an old layout of the castle, but no one knew exactly how outdated it was. All that could be of use was the location of the front door, the general size of the castle, and possibly a back door, which may or may not still exist.

"I can guide you through the castle with my sensory skills," Cat suggested. "At least, be able to divert you away from running into anyone."

"Can you sense civilians as well?" Sparrow questioned.

"If I fully concentrate, I should be able to." Civilians still had a chakra signature although nowhere near as developed or prominent as a shinobi's.

The plan was set. The three of them would infiltrate the Daimyo's castle, each of them searching one level of the building. Via radio devices, Cat would guide them from outside of the castle.

In case that failed, each of them would be stuck on their own, relying on their own senses. Their chakra sensing abilities were advanced jonin levels, but was only useful close distance. It didn't reach the range that Cat's did. They were instructed to abort the mission if about to be compromised.

The following night, four shinobis slinked across Land of Earth territory, easily sneaking past the guards with the guidance of Cat's sensory abilities and a little genjutsu. Throughout the journey to the Daimyo's castle, there wasn't a single word exchanged.

Once the castle came into view, Hound shot a look at Cat, who nodded in exchange. Cat slinked off to hide behind a boulder, using a simple genjutsu to make it appear that there was nothing but rock there. For a good measure, Cat also casted a sound barrier and henged into a plain looking civilian.

Pressing one hand to the radio device in her ear, Cat asked if they were able to hear her. All three of them replied with an affirmative.

Leaning back against the boulder, Cat sat cross legged as her eyes closed to concentrate on her the various chakra signatures. She locked on her comrade's signature easily, having spent so much time in their presence. Then she moved on the scatter of chakra signatures and began to pinpoint rough locations for them.

"Front entrance, three guards. Two at the entrance, one scouter from above. Check if there is a back entrance."

"Back entrance confirmed. Twenty meters east of front entrance and seventy two meters south."

Based on Crow's instructions, Cat locked on to the location of the back entrance. No foreign chakra signatures nearby, but there were some on the level above that.

"All clear, but be wary of any scouters on the floor above you."

Cat felt all three chakra signatures sneak into the castle via the back entrance.

Inside the castle, Hound led the way up the cobblestone stairs, motioning for Crow and Sparrow to continue heading up, while Hound would exit at this level. So far, the old map proved to be reliable, save for the mention that there was a basement level.

At the first level, Hound stopped, awaiting for Cat's all clear as he watched Crow and Sparrow's back as they continued further up the stairs. Through the radio, Cat informed the trio that there was a pair of shinobis descending down the stairs, leading for Crow and Sparrow to retreat. Along with Hound, they went halfway back down the stairs to the basement, suppressing their chakra signatures even further as the two noisy shinobis exited at the first level.

Cat informed them that the stairwell was clear again, but they had two minutes to get to their destinations before someone else would reach the doorway that led to the staircase. Sparrow and Crow sped up the staircase this time, while Hound remained hidden.

Third floor was clear to go.

Second floor contained three signatures, passing right by the staircase, but not opting to use the stairs. Eleven seconds later, Crow was given the all clear.

As for Hound, he was told that there was an unmoving signature to his left, right outside the door. Hound approached the door cautiously, mimicking the appearance of one of the guards he had seen at the front entrance, save for changing a couple of details. Hound slipped through the door, quickly casting the guard in a genjutsu when the guard moved to question him.

The guard blinked, clearly disorientated and Hound took the opportunity to slip into the hall, into the first room. Cat hissed at him through the radio for being careless, revealing that there was a civilian inside that particular room. Luckily for Hound, the civilian was fast asleep, his head buried in the crook of his arm as his torso was hunched over the desk.

Hound whispered a quick update. After placing the civilian in a sleeping genjutsu to ensure he didn't wake up, Hound made quick work of upturning all of the documents that he found, making use of his Sharingan to scan and memorizing the contents and moving on. So far nothing of interest, but that was expected since this wasn't the Daimyo's office.

Hound made a move to leave, but was quickly halted by Cat, who instructed him to hide, as there was someone who was nearing the door. Ducking behind one of the shelves, Hound heard the telltale creaks of a door opening. From his position, he could see the silhouette of a man peering into the room.

"Fucking bastard, always asleep," the unknown man murmured before slipping out of the room. The door clicked shut.

"To your right, your area is completely clear for now."

Capitalizing on that knowledge, Hound made quick work of scouring through the next three rooms on that end of the hallway and even stumbled about the Daimyo's library. His eye had taken in so much information in such a small time frame that his brain was struggling to shift through all of the useless information.

A worn spine to a book that contained the history of Konoha caught his eye. Grabbing the book from the shelf, Hound shifted through the pages, noting that it was the same copy that existed Konoha, except it lacked many details. He was about to put the book back in its place, having deemed it of no interest, when a small folded paper fluttered to the ground. Swiping it off of the floor, he unfurled the note.

A correspondence, requesting to meet. There was no signature. Hound wagered the meeting date might have already passed, but burned the location and meeting hour into his memory before jamming the note back into the pages where he had found it. Placing the book back into its position, Hound whispered to Cat that he was ready to move.

The process continued as Hound moved on to the next section of the castle. After making his rounds through the first floor, other than the lone note, Hound had found nothing substantial. He hoped that Crow and Sparrow had found something, to either prove or disprove the rumors, otherwise the entire mission would have been a waste of time.

Sparrow's soft curse could be heard through the radio. A flare of chakra came from the third floor. Through the radio, Cat was rapidly giving instructions to both Crow and Hound to get the hell out while the shinobis were headed in Sparrow's direction.

Hound and Crow met at the back entrance, exchanging looks, both wondering if they should assist Sparrow. Cat continued to instruct Sparrow, updating him on the number of chakra signatures headed his way.

"When you get the chance, place a genjutsu on them and make them forget," Cat instructed. "The path from your location to the stairwell is clear. Hound, Crow, when I tell you to, I'll need one of you to go back into the stairwell to create a clear path for Sparrow."

Two minutes passed before Cat gave them go ahead, enlightening them that three more shinobis had just entered through the first floor, while two from the second. Pushing chakra to the soles of their feet, it aided the two of them in their descent up the stairs. Crow easily captured the three shinobis in a genjutsu while Hound continued upwards. Sneaking up on them, Hound knocked both of them out with quick chop to the back of the neck. Sparrow came into sight, bounding down the stairs.

Outside, Cat felt all three of the chakras exit the building. Dropping the genjutsu, Cat moved to meet them at the assigned meeting spot when she felt the cool metal of a kunai pressing into her neck. Having been too concentrated on the safety of her comrades, Cat had failed to detect the newcomer's presence.

Pressing her hands to both sides of her head, Cat dropped down to the ground, ducking her head in fear.

"Please don't kill me," Cat pleaded, injecting as much fear into her voice as she could, playing her part as a frightened civilian. Through the radio, the other three members of Team Ro caught on to Cat's situation. Hound motioned for them to stay at a distance to observe the situation.

"What are you doing on our lands?" the menacing questioned, his voice booming in the silence.

Cat pretended to flinch.

"I got lost!" Cat answered quickly. "I was going to rest for a little bit before I continued moving."

The man grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her towards him. Cat yelped, hands flailing in the air wildly. During her display, Cat managed to pluck the radio out of her ears and crushed it with her bare hands before the Iwa nin caught her.

"I saw you using genjutsu. Don't try to pretend to be a civilian," the nin spat, sending a glob of spit onto the ground next to her. Cat gulped.

"I'm a war orphan from Kusa!" Cat cried. "Please, I only have a bit of shinobi training to protect myself! I was heading to the Stone Village to see if there was anyone who would offer me food and water in exchange for my healing services."

"Healing, you say?"

Cat vigorously nodded.

"Take her back to the village. Perhaps she can be of some use to Kouichi san."

Cat felt a hand hit the back of her neck, hitting hard enough to knock a civilian out. Going along with the flow, Cat pretended to be unconscious, slowing down her breathing and evening out the breaths. She felt herself being tossed over someone's shoulder, a hand on her waist to keep her balanced.

Cat risked cracking an eye open to see the castle fading from the distance. Motioning a subtle thumbs up in the general direction of the rest of her teammates, Cat went back to being unconscious.

From their hiding spot, Hound lifted a kunai, nicking the pad of his thumb before making the necessary hand seals. He slammed his hand down onto the ground. When the smoke faded, Pakkun was standing in front of him, lying lazily on the ground while he awaited for instructions.

"I need you to follow Rin," Hound ordered, jerking his thumb in the general direction of where the Iwa nins were headed. "This is Iwa territory. Be careful; don't get caught." For a good measure, Hound tugged off the Leaf headband that was perched atop Pakkun's head before sending him on his way.

Crow summoned his crows. "They will follow from above."

Hound nodded and waited for Crow to set his summons loose before motioning for them to get moving. All they could do now was wait.

Once they found a secure location to rest for the night, Sparrow put up a sound barrier, before dosing the entire area in a three layered genjutsu. Settling himself in against the wave of the cave, Sparrow took off his mask, tousles of dark hair falling onto his forehead. Besides him, Crow had done the same, carefully setting his mask onto the ground. Hound had chosen to push the mask to the side of his head, revealing his mismatched eyes.

As they waited for their respective summons to return with information on Rin's whereabouts, the three of them exchanged information. Itachi hadn't managed to glean anything useful. Kakashi told them about the note he had found, the one that had set up a rendevouz, but it was glaringly vague.

It was Shisui who confirmed the rumors to be true. He had stumbled upon the Daimyo's office, finding papers detailing their plot to attack Konoha. Stupidly, the plans listed names of those who were involved, confirming that the Daimyo's son, Kouichi was the spearhead of the revolt. The Daimyo had walked in on Shisui before Rin could warn him in time. Shisui was able to launch the Kotoamatsukami on the Daimyo, but the flare of chakra had alerted the Iwa nin of his presence. Leaving the disorientated Daimyo, Shisui turned to flee, only to be intercepted by the Daimyo's guards.

Hence leading to the messy escape.

"Are you sure you were able to erase their memories?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes," Shisui replied. "Even if I failed to, all they saw was my henged form. Nothing to point back to Konoha."

"Well they are planning to attack regardless," Itachi pointed out wryly. "Reason or not."

* * *

Cat, turned civilian girl Mai, had her hands bound and eyes blindfolded the entire trip through the Village of the Hidden Stone. Her keen ears could hear the villager's whispers about her captivity, the speculations of what she had done to offend Iwa.

Well a number of things, including killing multiple Iwa nins during the Third Great Ninja War and aiding the infiltration of the Daimyo's castle, but they didn't need to know that. In fact, she preferred the speculation that she had stolen something valuable or had tried to become a missing nin.

All she needed to do was make sure no one disrupted her chakra flow and her henge would stay put. For the most part, Rin looked like herself, minus the purple markings on her face, but if they saw her Anbu uniform, that would raise a lot of questions. She needed to find a chance to shed it, so even if she was exposed, she wouldn't be anyone recognizable. But her captors were adamant in not letting her out of their sight, not even for a second.

When the blindfold was finally taken off, Rin found herself face to face with the Tsuchikage, who was surprisingly a short man. He made up for it though, by being able to float on air.

"This one claims to be a medic," her captor grunted, shoving her harshly. Her shinobi instincts almost kicked in, body automatically moving to prevent herself from landing on the floow, but Rin remembered who she was at the moment. So, she let herself fall, hissing as her knees slammed against the hardwood floor.

"Is that so?" Rin knew the Tsuchikage was addressing her.

Not daring to meet his eyes, emitting fear like a civilian would, Rin nodded in the affirmative. The Tsuchikage waved his left hand, motioning for her captor to do something. Moments later, Rin flinched as she felt the cool metal touch her face, followed by a familiar stinging pain. The move had startled her so much that Rin almost dropped her henge.

Blood trailed down her cheek to her jaw, before dripping onto the floor, drop by drop.

"You say you are a medic? Prove it," the Tsuchikage commanded. Her captors made no move to untie her.

"Without hands?"

The Tsuchikage scoffed. "The best medics can heal without their hands. If you are incapable of doing that, then you won't be able to heal my son."

His son? The one who was rumored to be the spearhead of the revolt against Konoha? Injured or sick?

Whatever it was, Rin needed to find out. The current state of his health would be crucial to their mission and if it meant showing a bit more of her skills than she had intended, Rin would. After all, she had planned to just be an average medic, but she needed access to the Tsuchikage's son.

Green chakra glowed on the right side of her face, knitting together the cut until all that was left was a faint trail of blood.

"Very well. In exchange for healing my son, I will spare you your life and overlook your trespassing. Bear in mind any wrong move and you will be instantly killed."

An idle threat, Rin concluded. If anyone could heal his son, then the Tsuchikage wouldn't be relying on the good will and an idle threat to keep a foreign medic in line. And to allow her such close access to him in such a vulnerable state...the Tsuchikage was desperate. Out of options.

For the first meeting, Rin would play nice. Once again, her captor blindfolded her, pushing her along, through many twists and turns until he shoved her into a room. Taking off the blindfold once more, Rin could see again.

For one, the Tsuchikage had decided to follow.

Secondly, the ill man in front of her looked to be in his mid-twenties, donning the traditional Iwa shinobi wear and forehead protector. Appearance wise, there was nothing wrong with the man, save for a paler than normal complexion, but that could always be chalked up to a simple illness as well.

He was good at hiding his labored breathing, but upon closer examination, Rin found his breathing pattern to be erratic. Breathing was supposed to be seamless, just like an another instinct, but Rin found him exerting too much energy and focus just to breath.

His chakra signature was weaker than when Rin last crossed paths with him, five years ago during the war. On the battlefield, his chakra signature had been like a powerhouse, towering over all of theirs, but now it was reduced to the reserves of a genin. At this rate, if his lungs didn't give out first, his chakra would dwindle into nothing.

"A foreign medic, dad?" the son groaned. "Can we even trust her?"

"Trust me, Kouichi."

Just from looking at his condition, Kouichi had maybe a month to live. Rin wasn't sure, but she suspected he had contracted a type of poison, that would slowly eat away at his organs. He must have inhaled it, if it started from the lungs.

"Well?" the Tsuchikage prompted. She resisted the urge to glare at him; it was an unspoken rule to never bother a thinking medic!

"I'll need access to my hands if you want a thorough examination," Rin responded wryly. "But from my preliminary examination, I noticed troubled breathing, so I believe that there is something attacking the air sacs in his lungs. Perhaps a disease, but I suspect it is poison. Either way, depending on how fast the disease or poison is spreading, I'd wager you have a little less than a month to live."

"You found all of that out just by looking at me?" Kouichi questioned warily. The Tsuchikage nodded at her captor, who went to work undoing the ropes around her hands. Rin made a big show of moving her arms around to get the circulation back into her hands.

"Of course. I'm no novice. I've been doing this for ten years." Considering Rin was posing as someone in her mid-twenties, it was believable. At the same time, it hadn't been a lie either, Rin really did start working on her medical ninjutsu since her academy days.

"Can you heal me?" Kouichi had that hopeful look in his eyes, like many of her patients did when Rin told them she had a cure to their disease.

But should she heal him? It would be much easier to let him die, then Konoha wouldn't have to worry about the attack and only Mother Nature could be blamed for his death. At the same time, Rin knew she could save him; there was enough time for her to figure out a cure.

But would she? What if she healed him, like a good Samaritan, but caused him to be well abled enough to carry out the attack on Konoha? Undoubtedly, they would be grateful towards civilian girl Mai from Kusa, not Rin Nohara of Konoha.

And if they found out she was from Konoha? Who was to say that they wouldn't execute her on site?

"We'll see," Rin responded cryptically. Her hands reached out to him, glowing green as she began to analyze the condition of his body. Just as expected, Rin had detected a foreign substance in his system. But rather than just eating away at the lungs, it had also eaten through some of his chakra networks.

"Poison," Rin informed him. "It's not only eating away your lungs, but your chakra network as well."

For the first time during the meeting, Kouichi showed genuine fear. "Can you fix it?"

Could she? Rin could, but that would reveal too much. Iwa would catch on that she knew too much about the chakra network to simply be a civilian with basic shinobi training. She had two choices: let Kouichi die or expose herself and strike a deal with the Tsuchikage in exchange for healing his son.

Turns out Rin didn't have to make that decision.

Her team did it for her as they showed up at the Tsuchikage's Tower, unconscious and bloodied, bound with chakra suppressing metal. The reaction was immediate, her original captor had drawn a kunai to her neck. Rin didn't flinch this time; instead, letting her henge fall, revealing herself in an Anbu uniform and a Cat mask.

She had no idea how her team had gotten so careless to be caught, but Rin supposed she didn't have much time left, if she was bargain for their lives. It was already good enough that Iwa hadn't killed them on sight.

"Who are you?" the Tsuchikage demanded. Rin carefully removed her Cat mask, revealing the Konoha symbol engraved on her forehead protector.

"Konoha rats," the Tsuchikage spat. "I should have expected that. Your comrades then, I suppose?" The Tsuchikage made a move to kick at Itachi's unconscious form. Rin didn't even flinch.

"If you are looking to provoke another war, we will be glad to reciprocate."

"I do believe that Iwa is planning to provoke a war with us, not the other way around," Rin responded calmly. "Your son should know all about it." At this, Rin jerked her head in Kouichi's direction, who had a guilty expression written all over his face. That was all the confirmation the Tsuchikage needed, but his father still demanded to hear it from his son's own lips.

"It's true," Kouichi admitted. "There's a faction of Iwa shinobi that is dissatisfied with the outcome of the war and I supposed that I believed in them. We have been plotting to launch an attack on Konoha for some time now…including hiring a team of S ranked missing nins to take out Konoha's strongest team." At that, Kouichi's eyes flickered to the three unconscious shinobi on the floor.

Rin instantly made the connection. The ambush, the one that nearly killed all three of them had been Kouichi's doing.

"And here I was debating my loyalty to Konoha if I were to heal you," Rin retorted angrily. "Only to find out that you were the one who almost killed three of my most precious people." Technically, Rin didn't know the Uchihas back then, but if they hadn't lived, then she would certainly never gotten to know them.

"Your shinobis had already taken the life of a precious comrade away from me, but I can put that behind me since the war is over and we have made peace," Rin continued, feeling her ire rising. "Yet this is how you repay us? The Sandaime was lenient in the terms of the contract. If the elders of Konoha had it their way, your village would be in ruins right now."

"And is it not your own Yondaime who took out thousands of my comrades?" Kouichi responded through gritted teeth.

"What happened in war stays there. And did you not admit to plotting against Konoha? In that case, our trespassing is justified as you were the first to break the peace treaty. You will let us go, peacefully."

"Who says I'll do that?" the Tsuchikage responded. "We may have broken the peace treaty first, but I will not let you or your comrades leave, alive with village secrets."

"You can watch your son slowly wither away then," Rin responded, equally cruel. "The poison is a slow acting one, destroying his chakra system inside and out before his lungs collapse on him. Will you be that cold-hearted to watch him suffer or will you kill him yourself?"

His response had been to toss the four of them into jail, citing that he would await the Hokage's response to what he will exchange for them. Rin simply told him he was wasting his time.

* * *

Rin bided her time in the cell until her comrades woke up. They did a couple hours later after Rin healed them, but refused to disclose the details of how they had gotten caught in the first place. It had been embarrassing, Shisui told her, but Rin thought she deserved to know, if they were going to die soon.

Still, Rin didn't press the situation any further. Hours turned into days as Kakashi and Shisui attempted to find an escape route. Itachi simply sat there, watching them with his dark eyes almost as if he knew it was futile to try.

Her thoughts were plagued with Kouichi's condition. Many times over, her mind mulled over the last conversation and came to the realization that she had been too harsh with her words. In the heat of the moment and fueled by the nightmares that haunted her from the war, Rin had said things that she hadn't meant. Not when she knew for certain that Iwa was suffering from losses of their loved ones as well. Her loss didn't trump theirs; no, it was equally important.

She knew that she was capable of saving Kouichi, all she needed was some time and the right resources but she doubted the Tsuchikage would let her go near his son again, not after she practically declared she wanted to see Kouichi dead. Guilt plagued her as the days passed, knowing that his condition was getting worse and worse.

Rin had lost track of the days. Her only source of time had been when the guards came by to deliver their meals, once a day. Itachi kept track of the days, using the edge of a sharp rock to carve another line into the concrete for each day that passed. She didn't want to look, didn't want to know how long they had been stuck in captivity.

Some days later, the guards pushed open the cell door in the middle of the night, waking all four of them up. Instinctively, they all reached for their weapons, only for their hands to grasp air. Without much of an explanation, the guard moved to grab Rin's hand, dragging her to her feet. Shisui reached, ready to fight them to stop it, but Kakashi and Itachi held him back. They wouldn't win, not with in their weakened state and unable to access their chakra.

Much to her surprise, Rin found herself being shoved into a hospital room, with orders to help the ailing man. Acting on instinct, Rin pushed aside the Iwa medics, running a hand coated with healing chakra to get a feel of his condition.

Cardiac arrest, from the lack of oxygen in his system, leading to the lack of blood flow to the heart.

Ordering the Iwa medics around her to get a list of supplies, Rin went to work to stabilize his condition. She had no other choice; she would have to brutally remove the poison from the system.

The medics came back with the requested items. Rin shouted at them to keep pumping his heart, to keep performing CPR. Like it was second nature, Rin began making the mixture needed to serve as the medium to forcibly extract the poison from the system. Barking at the Iwa medic to pay attention to what she was doing, Rin continued mixing until all of the salt had dissolved in the water.

Satisfied, Rin channelled chakra to her palm, using the chakra to stick the blob of water to her hands. Left hand forming a chakra scalpel, Rin made a small incision in Kouichi's chest before pushing the water through his chest. Kouichi's chest jerked from the impact, but the Iwa medics held him down. From the other side of his chest, Rin extracted the water, seeing the silvery toxin in the blob. Releasing the blob and letting it splash into an empty pan, Rin demanded the next pan.

She repeated the process again and again until she was sure only 5% of the toxin still remained. Not enough to be life threatening, but Kouichi would live until she worked out a cure for him.

The Iwa medics hadn't been completely useless, having successfully gotten Kouichi's heart starting again. Activating her strength of hundred seals, Rin forcibly pushed her chakra into Kouichi's system, not having the time to mold her chakra flow to match his to ease the discomfort. All that mattered was that her healing chakra was forcing his cells to work in overdrive, fixing the damaged tissue around his lungs.

Rin suspected that Kouichi's condition had gone on for too long for him to remain a shinobi, even if she could fix his chakra network. His lungs had suffered too much damage for him to ever intake the level of oxygen needed to maintain the level of exertion required for a shinobi.

Thoroughly satisfied that his body had healed to the best of its ability, the black marks on his body retreated back to Rin's own, before disappearing to her forehead, covered by her forehead protector. Hovering her hands over Kouichi's torso once more, Rin deemed him to be in a stable condition for now. After giving more orders to the Iwa nin, Rin turned to leave, ready to head to the labs to concoct a cure, when the Tsuchikage blocked her way.

Had he been there the whole time? She didn't even notice.

Rin opened her mouth to threaten the Tsuchikage to let her comrades go if he wanted the cure, but it turned out, the Tsuchikage had been prepared for her request.

"I have already ordered your comrades to be released, but my men tell me that they refuse to leave without you."

"Why the sudden change of heart? Didn't you want us dead?" Rin asked warily.

"Perhaps for the same reason that you had a change of heart to save my son. You didn't need any prompting, any explanation, you just dove in to save him, like you just didn't save the son of the Tsuchikage, one of your greatest enemies."

Rin opened her mouth to interject, but the Tsuchikage continued.

"For that, I thank you for saving Kouichi's life. Not many shinobis would have done what you did today, and for that, Iwa will forever be indebted to you forever. For as long as I am Kage, I will ensure that Iwa will not attack Konoha or harm Konoha shinobis, unprovoked. I have already moved to disband the rebellion and sent a word to your Kage, offering to open up the trading port for Konoha's use."

"Really?" Rin was still skeptical, even if his words and body language screamed genuine.

"You placed your trust in Kouichi. Perhaps, it is time I placed my trust in Konoha."

Onoki was said to be one of the most stubborn Kage, past or present, so imagine Minato's surprise - actually, the entire council's surprise - when they received an official letter from the Tsuchikage, detailing the terms of a trade contract. Thorough examination from the encryption team confirmed the authenticity of the seal.

A small part of Minato thought Team Ro might have something to do with this; it was too much of a coincidence that they were in the Land of Earth and late in corresponding with him. But how?

He got his answer when Team Ro returned to Konoha two weeks after he received the letter, safe and sound, hardly looking like they came back from a mission. And the four of them recounted the details of the mission.

But they wouldn't be the only ones to tell the story. Not long after, the Hidden Stone village was buzzing with the story of how a Konoha medic literally dragged Kouichi back from the brinks of death. The tale began to spread across the Land of Earth, merchants and travellers spreading the story beyond the borders.

It wouldn't be long before Rin Nohara's name would be known throughout the Five Great Nations, as a legendary medic.

The second coming of Tsunade.

The Angel of Life.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Just so everyone is clear, any time they are on Anbu missions, I will be referring to their identities as their masks. Hound = Kakashi. Crow = Itachi. Sparrow = Shisui. Rin = Cat. Now, I realize that Itachi was the Cat mask in canon, but I think it made more sense to me that they were referred to as their animal summons. Since Itachi and Shisui use the same summons, I had to pick another name for Shisui lol. As for Rin, well I wasn't going to call her "slug" lol. Besides, her being Cat will sort of make sense further down the line...hopefully. **

**This particular mission has been in my head for the longest time, so it was super exciting to finally be able to put it into words. Let me know what you thought of it because obviously I am not as creative as the writers to create villains after villains. **

**Aside from that, life update: I haven't been able to write because I am swamped with schoolwork, but I'm going to try my best to finish this story so I can post the chapters faster. To be honest, that's probably not going to be happening until spring break haha. But the good news is that I do have enough chapters written in advance to last until then, so be on the look out for weekly updates!**

**The next chapter will be called Familial Feelings. Warning: will contain minor fluff because the characters deserve a break. :) **

**Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading. You don't know how much it means to me. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	13. Familial Feelings

**Chapter Twelve: Familial Feelings **

"It's not fair," Izumi ranted to an amused Rin. "He started bawling when I picked him up, but immediately stopped when he returned to Itachi kun's arms. He's clearly biased."

"Cut Sasuke some slack," Rin responded. "He's only a baby. He probably only recognizes his brother and parents at this point. Maybe you should start reading up on human's development of the mind."

Upon hearing Rin's suggestion, Izumi visibly paled. "Ah, I think I'm alright." Izumi let out a nervous chuckle as she plucked blades of grass to occupy her attention.

Izumi had the determination and chakra control, although a bit shaky at times, needed for a medical ninja, but it quickly became clear that Izumi didn't have the patience nor brain capacity for the overload of information. Rin felt like she had gone through a battle and back just to get Izumi to understand human anatomy. When she introduced the idea of memorizing the location of the chakra network, nerves, and major arteries and blood vessels, Izumi had collapsed on site.

And finally almost two years later, Izumi was a decent medic, but wouldn't be more than chunin level as she refused to learn anymore.

Knowing how to keep someone from dying until they could get to the hospital was good enough, Izumi had reasoned. At the hospital, there would be medics who could do a much better job of healing her injured comrade rather than her crude, on the field healing. Well, Rin couldn't fault her for that since even the most skilled medics only had enough time and chakra to heal someone to ensure that they didn't die. Often times, their crude methods of healing left many side effects, including damaged chakra networks and scars.

After their last mission in Iwa, Minato had given Team Ro a month off of active duty, partly because the other three hadn't gotten a break since the team formed but also because Minato knew that Itachi wanted to spend time with his little brother.

Rin kept herself busy with the numerous requests she received, asking for her medical expertise. Kakashi volunteered to join her on many of those missions, even if they were only classified as C ranked, stating that being in the village for so long would drive him crazy out of sheer boredom.

After all, there was only so much training Kakashi could do by himself.

In between Rin's many short term missions, Team Ro often met up for training. Kakashi managed to finally perfect his control over wind change in chakra nature, the only element that he seemed to struggle with. With his newly acquired wind jutsus, he was now able to combine with the Uchiha's fire techniques, as well with Itachi's water style.

As for Rin, Kakashi was adamant that he helped her perfect her ninjutsu, at least one chakra nature, even if most jonins were supposed to be proficient at two. She just never imagined Kakashi to use such sadistic teaching methods, often launching fire jutsus her way and forcing her to summon a water jutsu to save her life.

At least being put in a life or death situation was effective. In a little under a month, Rin learned all twenty something water jutsus that Kakashi had copied from various opponents over the years.

From there, Kakashi often sought out Shisui to continue to work on his kenjutsu skills. After having mastered wielding almost every type of weapon that was known to the shinobi world, Kakashi wanted to challenge himself to become a dual sword wielder, then training his non-dominant hand to work just as well as his left. Shisui happily obliged in his requests to spar, having also learned a lot during their spars.

As for Itachi, he often worked on his genjutsu with Rin, still unable to work out a genjutsu that she was unable to break out of.

"Ne, Shisui mentioned that you have the Tsukuyomi. What is that?"

"It's a power that I have as part of the Mangekyo Sharingan. I have only used it once." Only once on Shisui, figuring that it would be safe since Shisui had his own Mangekyo activated. Itachi hadn't expected to knock Shisui out for the entire day from using his Mangekyo for five seconds in real time.

"Have you perfected it?"

"No," Itachi admitted. "It's a very dangerous technique, especially since I have no control over it."

"You won't ever have control over it if you don't practice using it."

"But I can't practice on anyone. Last time I tried on Shisui, he was out for the entire day."

"Try it on me."

"What? You're not an Uchiha. The effects will be more detrimental."

"But I am a medic," Rin argued. "And I am resistant to genjutsu. Just explain to me how the technique is supposed to work and I'll take necessary precautions to prevent any damage to my mind."

Itachi was skeptical of her claims, but did as she asked anyways. He explained that Tsukuyomi had the power to draw the victim into a vastless dimension, where the victim will be powerless to fight back. Although he wasn't exactly sure, Itachi figured he had the power to manipulate the dimension however he wanted. That was what he still needed to figure out. He went on to recount Shisui's tale of being inside the dimension; all he felt was excruciating physical pain as he was forced to relive his biggest fears.

"Relive his biggest fears?" Rin questioned. "Then you must have dove into his mind to retrieve the memories. If that's the case, a strong chakra block should prevent you from entering the mind. There's also a possibility that you used a fear inducing genjutsu within the dimension to elicit the response. Combined with his inability to break out of the dimension…

"And where does the physical pain come in?"

"According to Shisui, there are many phantom versions of myself, constantly stabbing him."

"Alright, I think I understand," Rin said. "Go on. We need to figure out your jutsu so you can perfect it."

"But-"

"What's the worst that can happen? I get knocked out for the day? It's not like I have any missions tomorrow."

Itachi finally relented, activating his Sharingan, three tomoes spinning. In preparation of facing his genjutsu, Rin circulated healing chakra all throughout her body, in hopes that it would ease some of the phantom pain. When her eyes met Itachi's Mangekyo, Rin was immediately drawn into the dimension.

All around her, she could only see shades of black, save for the bloody red sky above her. Within it, dark clouds hovered, moving at a jarring speed. It slowed down, before it sped back up and repeated the process all over again.

At the first disturbance to her chakra network, Rin immediately snapped out of it, jerking her gaze away from the clouds. Hypnosis.

Her body was chained to a cross. Rin could feel her chakra, but for some reason, there felt like there was a block preventing her from accessing it. Phantoms of Itachi appeared all throughout the dimension, with a blade in each of his right hands.

Rin supposed that this was the part where she would feel the physical pain, but the slight twitching of phantom Itachi's hands indicated that he was working on maintaining control. His control didn't last long as the phantom versions of Itachi surged towards her, piercing his blade through her torso.

Ruthlessly, Itachi yanked out the sword before stabbing it once more. The process continued, with the other Itachi's joining. It felt like days on end.

When Itachi finally broke the Tsukuyomi, Rin collapsed to the ground, clutching her abdomen as her healing chakra worked to erase the phantom pain. It wasn't real, but it certainly felt real after being stabbed in the same spot relentlessly for seventy two hours straight.

Itachi's eyes widened, immediately deactivating his Sharingan as he knelt on the ground next to Rin, wondering if there was anything he could do for her. Should he bring her to the hospital?

"Ow, that hurt," Rin commented, struggling to push herself into an upright position. Itachi aided her, letting her body rest against his left arm.

"You're still conscious," Itachi noted.

"Yeah well, you didn't get a chance to mess with my mind," Rin responded in choppy bits. "I don't know if you are aware, but the clouds are the ones casting the genjutsu."

"The clouds?" If that was the case, Itachi needed to figure out how he could manipulate the clouds in his favor. As well as his phantom selves to only attack when he wanted to them too.

"Yeah, you better grateful, Uchiha-"

Rin promptly passed out.

* * *

Itachi panicked. Well, Itachi panicked as much as a Uchiha could. Immediately summoning a clone, Itachi ordered his clone to go find Shisui and Kakashi, who he knew were currently training at one of the training grounds. His level headed cousin and taichou would know what to do, or at least calm Itachi down.

Lifting Rin carefully, who was surprisingly light for a sixteen year old girl, Itachi took off towards the rooftops, darting across the tops of it before landing right in front of the hospital.

A medic landing herself in the hospital was never a good sign, as evident from the other medic's faces who took Rin's unconscious form away from Itachi's hands.

Not too long after, Shisui and Kakashi showed up at the hospital.

"What is this I am hearing about you using Tsukuyomi on Rin? Tell me your clone was joking," Shisui demanded.

Too bad Itachi never joked around.

* * *

"That was foolish," Isobu criticized as Rin sat calmly on the still waters. He was eyeing her, no doubt judging her. But Rin wasn't even phased.

"I was just helping a comrade out," Rin insisted. "Besides, I'm only unconscious because you decided to knock me out. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Well someone has to tell you how idiotic your actions were," Isobu retorted. "You do realize your resilience towards genjutsu is mostly because of me, right?"

"Buuut," Rin drawled. "I have the ability to detect it. You're just a failsafe in case something happens to slip by. Still after training with Shisui, I can detect most genjutsus now."

"Yet you have nothing to counter the physical pain from that boy's jutsu," Isobu huffed. "You may be able to avoid the mental torture of that jutsu, but it's still dangerous. It will still take a toll on your body. If you weren't a medic, I daresay you would be in a coma right now."

"Now, now," Rin tried to placate Isobu. "Since I'm here, why don't we talk about something else? After all, it's been a while."

Isobu took the bait. They veered away from topics concerning the Sharingan and onto what had been going on in Rin's life lately, even though Isobu could choose to peer into it if he wanted. Still, Isobu respected his host too much to pry on her personal life. Plus, it made it all the more interesting when Rin told him all about it, when he didn't know anything beforehand.

And well, he would only interfere if Rin ever did anything stupid.

Like today.

* * *

When Rin magically woke up less than an hour later, she startled the three shinobis that had been sitting by her bedside. With ease, Rin unhooked the needles from her arms, swinging out of the bed in a manner that suggested nothing was wrong with her.

And nothing was wrong.

There were a lot of questions dancing on the tip of all three of their tongues, but Rin silenced them by suggesting that they sneak out of the hospital first. The three readily agreed, each of them not liking hospitals as much as the next; Rin included. Hospitals were only tolerable when she wasn't the one lying on the bed...or when she actually needed it.

But there was nothing wrong.

After escaping from the hospital through a secret exit, making all three of them promise to never use it for their own escapes, the three of them grilled her on her health. Rin was fighting a losing battle; no matter what she said, they wouldn't believe her. Even if she was the medic. Even if it was her body and she knew it the best.

It was then that Rin decided perhaps it was time for her to reveal her secret to Itachi and Shisui. Kakashi was already aware of it, but he didn't know the extent of her abilities. In fact, they never even explicitly talked about it.

Aside from Kakashi, only Minato and Kushina knew. Minato had opted to not tell anyone else. Kushina being a jinchuuriki was considered highly classified information and Minato felt that way too many people knew about it. Even if they were all considered to be "trusted" individuals. Hence, Minato refrained from telling anyone other than Kushina, and told Rin to do the same.

But this was her team. She trusted them with her life.

"What do you know about the tailed beasts?"

Both Uchihas took the information in with stride, already having previous knowledge on tailed beasts and jinchuurikis. They were both aware of the existence of the nine tailed fox, from the tales passed through generations of Uchiha that Madara Uchiha had been able to control the nine tailed fox with his sharingan.

And they were vaguely aware that the nine tailed fox was still being kept in Konoha to this day, but as loyal Leaf shinobis, they wouldn't question it.

What the Uchiha cousins hadn't expected was for their own teammate to tell them that she hosted the third tails. Isobu.

That really didn't change their outlook of her, as Rin was still the same person they had grown to know, but it certainly explained a lot of things.

Like her rapid healing, which they had always chalked it up to her insanely talented medical ninjutsu. Turned out, Isobu had been there, helping her speed up the process.

Or how Rin was practically on her feet within an hour, despite being subjected to the effects of Tsukuyomi. Turned out, Isobu's presence helped curbed the effects of it, at least partially.

Or her insane amount of chakra reserves. That certainly explained how Rin held on for so long as Itachi's Mangekyo burned through her reserves when she tried to save him.

But nothing changed between them.

And nothing would ever get in the way of their friendship.

Or so they thought.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was notorious for avoiding all things that involved socializing, including participating in his own birthday celebration. Rin tried dozens of tactics over the years when they had been on the same genin team, often with Minato sensei and Obito's help, but Kakashi saw right through their plans every time. It had taken her at least three years before she finally got Kakashi to at least accept their gifts. But she still hadn't successfully gotten him to relax on his birthday.

This year around, Rin had two more accomplices: fifteen year old Shisui and twelve year old Itachi. Between the three of them and a very bored Kushina, Rin was confident that she could finally drag the now seventeen year old Kakashi to spend the day with them. Training with them didn't count; Kakashi needed to actually let loose and have fun.

But if anyone asked Kakashi, his definition of a "fun" day was a day that Gai didn't pester him for a spar and having Minato sensei teach him another cool jutsu. That, or spending his day creating his own jutsu.

Still, Rin was adamant, even if Kakashi had told her to give it up many times. For the past few years, Rin hadn't bothered him about celebrating his birthday - as he happened to be on a mission in one year and Rin had been stuck in the hospital for the entire day another year. The first year, Obito's death was still fresh on their minds that Rin didn't want to plan a celebration without him. And Minato had just taken the hat and would be too busy to help her.

The day started off normally. Shisui met Kakashi at the training grounds to spar with him. At least, Kakashi would enjoy that part of his day. Meanwhile, Itachi had gone off to Kushina's house to help with preparations, along with Izumi. Rin suspected that Izumi simply volunteered so she could spend time with Itachi, as the girl hardly knew Kakashi, but who was Rin to complain about extra help?

Besides, Rin secretly hoped the two of them would get together in the future. When they were both older, of course.

While preparations went on, Rin went around the village, trying to track down all of her old classmates. Kakashi didn't have many friends; Rin even wagered that Kakashi only thought of Team Ro as his only friends, but she knew her peers still cared. Even if the two of them had become distant from the rest of them, a few of them had approached her to make sure they were doing alright after Obito's death.

Genma and Raidou had moved on to become part of the Hokage's special platoon, so the two of them rarely hung out with the group anymore. Ebisu had never been well-liked, with his stuck up and arrogant attitude, so he wasn't missed. Still, Rin could always count on finding Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai together, usually at the dango shop.

As she thought, they were at the dango shop.

The three of them looked surprised to see Rin pop up in the dango shop, in her normal shinobi wear, consisting of a mesh shirt underneath her sleeveless light blue kimono style top. Around her waist was a white sash, along with her normal brown shorts that peeked out from where the kimono top ended, a bit above mid thigh. The flak jacket that Rin usually wore was notably missing.

Not to say that the three of them didn't welcome her there, but it was strange to see her around without her Anbu uniform. It was even stranger to see her without any of her teammates as company or the Uchiha girl that Rin had taken on as an apprentice.

Still, there were no hard feelings between them. It was common as shinobi to be overwhelmingly busy. In fact, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai only hung out often simply because they often ended up on the same team, having a balanced expertise of taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu among the three of them. At least, Rin never outright ignored them, like Kakashi once did.

Then again, Kakashi had been severely depressed at the time. If Gai's accounts were to be believed, then Kakashi had gotten a lot better in recent years. Less depressed, less suicidal, with a stronger will to live. That was always a good sign.

Between Kurenai and Asuma, they suspected his change might have been due to his new team and his recent reacquaintance with Rin, after their team split when Minato became the Fourth.

Kurenai was the first to greet her. "Asuma told me you kicked ass in the exams. Congratulations."

Rin let out a chuckle. "He was probably exaggerating. Did he tell you the part where he came after me in the third stage?"

"I thought you had a scroll," Asuma grunted in his defense.

"I really didn't," Rin told him. "But it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

From the stories that Asuma told her, he fared better as a jonin than Rin did. For one, Asuma was mostly in charge of leading a three man squad, often consisting of Kurenai and Gai. The few times that he led a different squad, it seemed that he commanded respect from the other shinobis. Rin supposed being the son of the Third Hokage would help with that.

Not to mention, Asuma had always been a standout among their class, along with Kakashi.

"We're working on becoming jonin as well," Kurenai informed Rin, gesturing between herself and Gai. At that, Gai began shouting out his daily training regime.

"If I fail to be promoted to jonin at the next exams, then I run two hundred laps around Konoha!" Gai announced. His declaration was loud enough to even garner the attention of some passerbyers. Asuma slapped his face out of embarrassment, while Kurenai began to apologize to the other patrons and shopkeeper on Gai's behalf.

"That would require you to pass the written exam first," Asuma responded wryly. "You better start brushing up on all your academy knowledge."

Gai visibly paled at the mention of a written exam. It was no secret that written exams weren't his strong suit, as he had graduated the second to lowest in the class, just barely above Obito. During the chunin exams, Gai had gotten lucky that it had been a test of resilience, not knowledge. If he had gotten the same exam that Asuma and Rin got, there was no doubt that Gai wouldn't have passed.

"Thank you for the advice. I will study hard!" With that, Gai did his classic pose and thumbs up at Asuma. Although Asuma had seen it many times, he still backed away from Gai.

"Oh, I just remembered, I have a request to ask of you," Rin began. "I'm planning a birthday celebration for Kakashi tonight, do you want to come?"

Gai was the first to agree, with a cheerful "of course!" Asuma and Kurenai also agreed, having nothing better to do. Rin gave them the location and time, instructing them to show up on time, before bounding off to search for a gift for Kakashi.

Kakashi was notoriously difficult to shop for. From the many years that Rin had been teammates with him, Rin knew that Kakashi liked practical things. In the previous years, Rin had always gotten him some variation of weapons, or replacing his stock of medical supply as a gift. She knew that Kakashi still carried her personalized med kit that she gave him as a jonin gift, at least that gift had been successful, but what did an older Kakashi want? At this point, Rin was certainly that Kakashi made a high enough wage that he could splurge on anything he wanted to. In fact, his wage was probably higher than hers.

Rin found herself wandering into the weapons shop once more. She considered buying him a sword due to his recent interest in kenjutsu, but Minato sensei had beaten her to it, secretly showing her his gift for Kakashi. A special blade made out of a special metal that would make channelling chakra into it very easy.

Kushina settled for gifting Kakashi a book on fuinjutsu, claiming that he was also one of Minato's brat, so therefore he needed to continue the tradition of learning fuinjutsu so he could pass it down to his own students. Rin refrained from telling her it was highly unlikely that Kakashi would ever take on a group of genin students.

The Uchiha cousins had been tight lipped on their joint present, but repeatedly assured Rin wouldn't give the same thing that they were.

Perhaps it was better that she didn't know, as that would just further limit her options.

She did consider a better med kit, but she only wanted to give it as a last resort. It was only when Rin wandered into a clothing shop, one designed for shinobis, did she finally see something of interest.

It was perfect.

* * *

It didn't even cross Kakashi's mind what day it was. Having been preoccupied with training with Shisui in the morning, finally perfecting their combo attack, then grabbing lunch at one of the food stalls in Konoha - Kakashi refused to eat lunch at the Uchiha compound, not when half of them were out for his blood - then running into Itachi. Itachi informed the pair that Rin was busy with some things at the hospital, before accepting an invitation to join them for training instead.

Behind Kakashi's back, Shisui and Itachi exchanged high fives. So far so good, Kakashi didn't suspect a thing.

Between the two of them, it was entirely too easy to keep Kakashi preoccupied. In fact they had been so engrossed in the mission that Rin entrusted them with that they hadn't noticed the time. If it wasn't for the Anbu summon showing up at the training grounds, requesting Kakashi's presence at the Hokage's office, Itachi and Shisui wouldn't have noticed the sun was already setting.

Once Kakashi was whisked away by the Anbu, Shisui and Itachi headed towards the Fourth's house, which Kushina had graciously offered for them to use for the surprise. Once inside, the two of them found Kushina putting the last touches on the cake.

At the Hokage's office, Minato was feeding some bullshit to Kakashi, convincing him to come over for "dinner." Under his sensei's relentless pleading, Kakashi eventually caved and sullenly trailed behind his sensei as he led the way home.

And here Kakashi had been hoping for a new mission, since he was bored out of his mind staying in the village all the time. Going on the C ranked missions with Rin curbed his boredom somewhat, but there was no excitement. Besides, it was boring when all Kakashi could do was watch Rin work her magic on the ailing patients.

Minato's request struck him as odd, but Kakashi simply chalked it up to his nerves and excitement that he was going to become a father soon.

"Do I really have to do this?" Kakashi drawled upon seeing his sensei's house in sight. Minato cocked his head, barely having to look down to see his student.

Kakashi has grown, Minato mused. Yet those words sounded like it would come out a ten year old Kakashi's mouth.

"I'm happy for you sensei, really," Kakashi continued. "But I had a long day of training, so I just want to go home and rest."

"But we're already here," Minato argued, not wanting to see his other student's hard work go down the drain. "Just for five minutes. Kushina misses you."

Suspicion was written all over Kakashi's face. If the Fourth had a weakness, it was his inability to lie. "Really? You and I both know I was Kushina's least favorite from Team Minato." At this, Kakashi's lone eye stared into Minato's.

"What are you up to, sensei?"

"You'll find out if you go in," Minato coaxed, lightly pushing Kakashi to the door. Kakashi sighed and conceded to Minato's request, hand ready to twist the doorknob.

The moment Kakashi pushed open the door, he was met with a chorus of "Happy Birthday!" Front and center was a pregnant Kushina, with a cake in hand. The icing spelled out his name, in navy blue, his favorite color. He spotted a few of his peers, Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai, who had set off the streamers.

He instantly knew what this was about and wished he had never come.

"Sensei, you know I don't do celebrations," Kakashi said, gesturing his hand in the general direction of the living room. "This is a waste of my time."

The house fell silent. Everyone could hear the sound of multiple plates smashing to the ground, right after the words left his mouth. Itachi and Shisui enter the living room, with a stack of plates and utensils in their hands, worry etched in their eyes. Maybe Kakashi felt slightly guilty for dissing the celebration, if his two teammates had been involved in the planning.

The intensified when Kakashi saw Rin emerge from the kitchen, empty handed, save for the small box in her hands. Tears gathered at the rim of her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment.

It was then did Kakashi realize exactly who he had offended with his comment. Sure, he had been sure to show his annoyance everytime Obito and Rin planned a celebration for him or if he was dragged into planning one for Obito, but he never said anything so blatantly rude to their face. To her face.

"Sorry for wasting your time. It won't happen again." Before Kakashi could register how sad and heartbroken Rin sounded, she was already pushing past him, heading out the door. On her way out, Rin shoved the small box into Kakashi's unsuspecting hands. Kakashi couldn't do anything more than watch her retreating back.

Hastily, Kakashi tore open the package, revealing a customized hitai-ate. The band of the cloth was the standard navy blue, but with slightly extra material on the left side. Not enough to be cumbersome when Kakashi needed to access his Sharingan in battle, but also enough to cover his left eye completely if he wore it slightly slanted.

She noticed, Kakashi thought, clutching the metal plate of the hitai-ate tightly. Turning on his heels, Kakashi rushed out in the streets of Konoha, leaving all of the occupants in the Fourth's house stunned at his sudden departure.

For all the claims that Rin was his teammate, it finally hit him that he knew almost nothing about her. Sure, he knew all of her abilities, her fighting style, her intelligence, but he didn't know anything about her. Like when her birthday was or where Rin went when she was sad or what her favorite food was. Yet she knew all of that information about him, without Kakashi needing to tell her.

Her apartment was the first place Kakashi looked, but it was too obvious if Rin didn't want to be found. And clearly she didn't. Kakashi highly doubted she was at the hospital, but he went there anyways, despite his hatred for the building. Not there.

A friend's house? Definitely not with Kurenai since Kurenai was still at the Fourth's house. Kakashi had seen her with a Uchiha girl a couple of times, but he didn't know her name, much less where she lived.

Kakashi searched every store that he had ever seen Rin go into, going from the dango house, to the market, to the ramen stand, to the BBQ place, to the weapons store, to the clothing shop, to the medical herbs shop. There wasn't a trace of her in all of those places, so Kakashi proceeded to head to all of the training grounds that she was known to use.

Empty. Empty. Empty.

He wanted to bang his head against the wall. If Obito was alive...he would know where Rin was, instantly. With that in mind, Kakashi headed towards the memorial stone, hoping that Obito would be able to give him some sort of guidance. He was sure that Obito was watching him in disappointment from above.

Never in a million years did Kakashi expect to find Rin at the memorial stone. It had been a few years since Kakashi ran into Rin at the memorial stone, while Obito's death was still fresh on their minds, but there hadn't been a trace of her since then. Of course she would seek comfort from Obito; he was the only one who really ever understood her.

"Kakashi actually got angry this time," Rin whispered so softly that Kakashi's ears strained to hear her. "Sorry I couldn't keep tradition, Obito. At least I forced him to accept the gift this time." Kakashi heard her let out a soft chuckle, but it sounded lifeless and full of pain.

And he was the cause of that.

"I think he's turning into a grumpy old man," Rin continued. "At least when he was younger, he would pretend to hate it, but I think he always secretly liked it. Now, I'm not so sure anymore."

"No, I still appreciate it," Kakashi cut in, revealing himself. Rin didn't seem to look a bit surprised; perhaps she had already sensed him in the area?

"I just-" Kakashi struggled to find the right words. "Not used to people doing things for me. Not after my father-"

The last time Kakashi had truly celebrated his birthday was with his father, when he was gifted with his summoning pack.

Despite his lack of words, Rin seemed to understand what he was trying to say.

"You know we're your family now, right? We might not be related by blood, but everyone will still always be there for you. Whether you want it or not, we'll always still worry about you, care about you, and want you to be happy."

Family...Kakashi liked the sound of that.

"Thank you."

_Thank you for filling the emptiness in my heart._

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**This chapter was originally going to be something else, but I figured they needed a break. So a bit of angst (because they're still teenagers) and little bit of bonding between some characters before the plot picks up again. :) **

**So the gift: the anime was inconsistent when animating Kakashi's forehead protector, sometimes he has it super tilted, other times there's the extra cloth there, so we're going to pretend that prior to this, Kakashi just kept the eye shut, rather than covered (I mean most of the time he is wearing the Anbu mask anyways). **

**Next chapter, a new arc begins, which I am super excited to share with you. It's actually going to be longer than one chapter arc lol (I really could have made the previous chapter into a longer arc since there were other ideas that I had for it but oh well, maybe for a bonus arc). Anyways, next chapter is titled Angel of Death.**

**Thank you for reading; let me know what you think! Until next time! :)**

**-MM**


	14. Angel of Death

**Chapter Thirteen: Angel of Death**

_It was hard to breathe. Every breath she took seemed to irritate her lungs even further, sending her into another coughing fit. Before her was a mangled body of a dead shinobi, spine snapped clean in half. Struggling to push herself to her feet, Rin used a nearby wall to stabilize herself as her shaky legs carried her out of the alley, seconds before the building next to her was decimated into pieces. _

_Rin's eyes widened as she registered the searing hot chakra, belonging to a furry orange tail. It was so close to her that Rin could feel the intense heat radiating off of it. The tail swung once more, screams from civilians piercing the air as rubble from the crushed buildings began to fall. Despite her burning muscles screaming at her to stay put, Rin lunged for a small girl, pushing her to safety. _

_Moments later, Rin felt a blunt force slam into her torso, sending her flying meters through the air. Her entire body felt like it was burning, she felt like screaming but her lungs were collapsing on her after her ribcage was shattered on impact. _

_Two minutes to live, her medical mind told her, that was if she didn't die on impact from the landing. _

_With great effort, Rin turned her head to follow the sound of a loud beast roaring. There, slightly obscured by smoke, was the nine tailed fox in front of the Hokage mountain. Its nine tails flashed wildly behind him, extending outward to cause any damage that it possibly could, while his claws swiped at the shinobis that were bravely trying to contain the fox. _

_No, none of that struck her as odd. The Kyuubi had gotten loose and wanted revenge on Konoha for keeping him in captivity. Kushina's seal had malfunctioned, that was all. _

_And Rin would have sincerely believed that if not for the fact she saw the familiar three tomoe pattern in both of the Kyuubi's eyes._

_The Sharingan. _

Rin woke up with a start, pressing a hand to her chest to feel her rapidly beating heart. She took in deep breaths, counting to five before releasing just like she had instructed panicking shinobis to do many times over. It had taken her two minutes to gather her bearings. Tossing her blanket off of her body, Rin clambered out of bed, her bare feet padding against the cold floor. Brushing aside the curtains to her window, Rin stared at the almost full moon.

It had been white before it slowly began to be tainted with red, until it was the shade of blood. The shade of blood, with the same markings as a Sharingan. Rin closed her eyes, shaking her head in hopes to get the dream out of her mind.

It wasn't real.

The Uchihas would never betray the village, even if they were a bit hostile. If the intention was there, Itachi and Shisui would surely know and inform the Hokage. They hadn't mentioned anything of the sort, so it wasn't real.

The dream wasn't real.

Too bad Rin couldn't even convince herself it wasn't real. The dream had been too vivid, almost like Rin herself was there at the time, for it to just be a nightmare. And the fact that the dream came just a day before Kushina was due to give birth...the time when the seal would be the weakest.

It had been over three years since she had a dream similar to this and it had turned out to be very much real. Was this another one of Romo's warnings? What could she do about it?

Rin couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the night, after going through theory after theory at how the enemy nin managed to sneak past Konoha's defenses to extract the Kyuubi from Kushina.

The burning question on her mind was who knew about Kushina's pregnancy. Very few people knew about the Kyuubi sealed inside of Kushina, and even fewer people knew the exact location where she was going to give birth. Even Rin wasn't privy to such information. A traitor…?

The Sharingan in her dreams had definitely been very real, but Rin firmly believed that it wouldn't be an inside job. In that case, it left a list of Uchihas who defected the village or a non Uchiha who possessed a Sharingan. But how many people aside from Kakashi have an eye transplant? It would be extremely rare, considering how notoriously protective the Uchihas were of their precious dojutsu. From what she gathered through her conversations with Itachi and Shisui, the Uchihas would rather destroy their eyes before their death rather than let it fall into enemy hands.

A missing nin Uchiha was the most plausible option, yet Rin couldn't remember any Uchihas being listed in the missing nin section of Konoha's bingo book. The last known traitor was Madara Uchiha, after his growing discontent at the lack of inaction by the Uchiha clan, but he was long dead - killed by the Shodaime in battle.

There were bound to be defectors that wouldn't be listed, but that meant they weren't seen as a high level threat. In that case, would the Uchiha even have a Sharingan strong enough to control the nine tailed fox?

The following morning, Rin asked - demanded - to see the security measures for Naruto's birth. Naturally, Minato was suspicious as to why his student was asking to see it, when he made it explicitly clear to Team Ro that they would be off duty that night. He had already gone through his fair share of arguing with the three other stubborn headed members. When Rin hadn't shown up along with the other three to demand they be placed on duty that night, Minato had thought she was the sensible one.

But now she was here, the day before Naruto's birth, adding onto Minato's growing headache concerning last minute preparations and the never ending paranoia that was growing inside of him. Minato couldn't deny that there was an eerie feeling that pervaded him, almost like it was warning him that something was going to happen.

Having his student demand to see the security details only intensified his paranoia.

"You know that you are my student and that I trust you with my life, but I can't let you see it. This is on a 'need to know' basis."

"Sensei, please trust me," Rin pleaded. Her bloodshot red eyes swept the entire interior of his office, almost like she was looking for something that wasn't there. Her hand wouldn't stop shaking, no matter how much effort she put in trying to curb it. "Something is going to happen tomorrow night."

All of the ticks in her body language, along with the quiver in her voice made Minato believe her. That Rin was genuinely freaked out about something, but could it be caused by paranoia? Could paranoia alone cause his student to look like she had seen a ghost?

"I've already put in place the highest level of security that I possibly can for tomorrow," Minato tried to placate her. Except it was hard to do so when he shared the same paranoia that she did. "There's nothing to worry about, Rin."

Rin didn't believe him. Heck, Minato himself didn't even buy into his own lie.

Rin desperately wanted to tell her sensei about the dream she had and the other dream she had, which turned out to be very real. But that would require pointing fingers at the Uchiha clan, when there was no real basis of accusation except "a sixteen year old girl saw it in her dreams which may or may not be a vision." What if Rin was all wrong and it turned out to have just been a nightmare? It had been over three years since Romo planted the first dream in her mind, after all. And it wasn't like Rin could go die again so she could ask Romo for confirmation.

"At least let me be on duty tomorrow night," Rin pleaded, her final request. She wasn't sure what her added presence would do; would it even change anything? But it was better than sitting in her apartment, driving herself crazy over the millions of theories that ran through her head.

"There's already more than enough Anbu on duty tomorrow."

"But I'm a medic," Rin argued. "I know you have medics, but an extra hand wouldn't hurt. Besides, I also have some knowledge on seals. Maybe I can be some sort of help. If anything, it would be good to know how the process works for...for myself."

Rin hadn't really wanted to throw that last argument out there. Her sixteen year old self wasn't ready to remotely even think about starting a family, especially not when she didn't even have a boyfriend. Yet, Minato couldn't refute that preparation would be good for her, as another female jinchuuriki.

The same situation would inevitably happen to her.

"Fine," Minato conceded. "But you will stay in the corner of the room until you are needed. You will follow all of my orders without question, do you understand?"

Rin nodded.

"I'm going to teach you a simple teleportation technique. It's not as fast as the Hiarishin, but I want you to use it to get out of there if anything happens, alright?"

Again, Rin nodded. Minato hoped he wouldn't come to regret his decision…

* * *

Technically, the three of them were supposed to be off duty, but technically, they did follow the Hokage's orders. They were off duty. The three of them were devoid of the traditional Anbu garb, instead reverting back to their normal jonin clothing. For Kakashi, it was the standard jonin wear, with the long sleeve navy shirt and pants, along with the green jacket. Kakashi had even taken to wearing Rin's gift, the forehead protector. It was slightly slanted on his head, but it screamed more of a "fashion statement" than "I have something to hide." After all, Kakashi had gotten so annoyed looking ridiculous with his old headband, having to tilt it a good sixty degrees to cover his eye that he forgoed wearing it altogether.

Both Uchiha cousins were wearing their typical high collared Uchiha shirts, with dark shinobi pants. Shisui had his tanto strapped to his back, while Itachi had chosen to forego carrying his sword tonight. Instead, he was carrying a sleeping Sasuke, who had been left in his care as both of his parents had gone out. Itachi knew that his father would disapprove of him sneaking out with Sasuke, but Itachi couldn't deny that all three of them were paranoid.

Tonight was the night that Kushina was giving birth. Over the course of the last twenty four hours, Shisui had experienced his mug cracking twice, always a sign of bad omen. For Itachi, he had woken up in cold sweat during the night, with his Mangekyo Sharingan activated. As for Kakashi, there was pain throbbing in his left eye, something that he usually only experienced after using his Mangekyo powers. It had been so bad that Kakashi had to seek out Rin to check out his eye, but even Rin looked considerably pale and nervous, like she hadn't slept in the last two days.

Rin would later inform them that she did indeed, not sleep well for the last two days.

Their paranoia seemed to be exclusive to the four of them, as they had run into other shinobis during their stroll through Konoha's streets. Not only were genin carefree, but chunins and jonins even seemed to be at complete ease.

It was entirely possible it was because they weren't burdened with the knowledge of the nine tailed fox being sealed inside of Kushina and the complications that arose at birth.

"Listen…be on your guard tonight, alright?" Rin warned them earlier that day. She proceeded to launch into an explanation of her weird "dream" the night before, but the details were scarce. All she could tell them was seeing the Kyuubi wreaking havoc on the village and how she died in her own dream, after taking a hit from the Kyuubi.

Rin purposefully neglected to mention seeing the Sharingan, not wanting to alarm the three Sharingan users or force the Uchiha cousins to start suspecting their own clan.

Upon hearing about Rin's dream, the three of them agreed that they would wander around the village that night. If they couldn't be on duty, then at least they could be on standby to help the civilians evacuate if anything happened. That, and they were slightly bitter that Minato actually allowed Rin on active duty.

But no one could actually deny that Rin would be infinitely more useful than the three of them combined when it came to the birthing process. So they settled for leisurely wandering through the streets of Konoha.

Gai eventually found them. Or rather found Kakashi, since he wanted to challenge his self proclaimed eternal rival to another spar. To which Kakashi declined, citing a mission, early tomorrow morning and proceeded to offer Gai a game of rock-paper-scissors to get him off his back.

Gai's loud declarations of how "unyouthful" Kakashi was being, woke Sasuke up. One look at the weird green man with a bowl cut, Sasuke began crying loudly. Sighing in exasperation, Kakashi proceeded to spend the next three minutes shooing Gai away, while Itachi attempted to bounce Sasuke up and down in his arm, just the way he liked it.

Sasuke didn't stop crying, not even when Kakashi finally succeeded in getting Gai to leave.

"Something is wrong," Shisui stated, peering at Sasuke's red and puffy face. "He's usually not a crier. Not when he's your arms."

Itachi looked worriedly down at his bawling brother. "Perhaps, he will feel more at ease if I take him home."

Shisui and Kakashi preferred having Itachi there with them, in case anything happened, but it couldn't be helped. Itachi's duty came before whatever self imposed duty they had placed on themselves. Besides, it could have simply been immense paranoia on their part. Best case scenario was that nothing happened.

Right as Itachi turned to head in the direction of the Uchiha compound, Izumi spotted him, calling his name out. Itachi stopped to his tracks, greeting the girl, who approached the three of them. Izumi shot a curious look at the crying baby.

"Che, now he's crying in your arms?" Izumi commented.

"He's probably not used to being around so many people," Itachi suggested. "You came from the hospital?"

Izumi nodded. "Mehhh, I'm so tired. If I would have known that I would be pulling double and triple shifts when I don't have missions, I might have reconsidered learning medical ninjutsu. I mean, at this rate, I won't even have time to prepare for the chunin exams. And now Rin doesn't spend that much time at the hospital, everyone turns to me for suggestions. Like if you can't ask Rin, then you ask the apprentice? What kind of logic is that? I'm nowhere near Rin's level; I don't know a thing about open heart surgery…"

A loud roar in the distance cut Izumi's rant off. The three members of Team Ro immediately followed the source of the sound, only to find exactly what they had feared.

The nine tailed foxed unfurled all nine tails as it angrily made the first swipe at Konoha, tearing through three buildings in the process. The civilians began to panic, the shinobis diving out of the shops and readying their weapons to fight back.

Itachi shoved the crying Sasuke into Izumi's open arms, instructing Izumi to head for the shelters. Izumi recovered from her shock within the next two seconds, nodding her head fiercely before taking off towards the evacuation zones. With an authoritative voice, Izumi began to shout at the civilians to follow her, gathering stray genin along the way to help with the cause. The Uchiha police force immediately jumped into the fray, rescuing as many people from underneath the rubble and spreading out through the village to direct all non fighters to safety.

The chunins were gathered to be on standby, citing that Sandaime had issued an order to keep the younger ninjas out of the fray. Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma were present among the group, despite the latter being a jonin. All that were present itched to participate in the fight, especially after hearing constant roars in the distant, seeing the smoke permeate the dark sky, and hearing the rumble of destruction that followed.

Pulling out their masks from their weapons pouch, the three of them donned their Anbu masks, lessening their chances of being stopped, even if they weren't in Anbu uniform.

"What's the plan, taichou?" Shisui asked as they ran full speed towards the Kyuubi. Before Kakashi got a chance to answer, the three of them scattered as a tail crashed into the ground, where they were moments before. They reconvened at the top of the roof of a nearby building, giving them a front row view of the useless attacks launched by other Konoha shinobis. Instead of stopping the fox, it only seemed to irritate it more, having to constantly swipe away the projectiles thrown at him.

"We need to subdue him and get him away from civilization," Kakashi ordered. Plucking open one of the pockets of his flak jacket, Kakashi retrieved a scroll, unrolling it to reveal the kanji for "chakra suppressing chains."

"Shisui, can you use your body flicker to surround the fox and use these chains to hold him into place?"

Shisui nodded grimly. "I won't be able to last long. One minute tops."

"One minute is all we need," Kakashi replied. "Itachi, I want you to use your Mangekyo to subdue the Kyuubi. I'll provide cover for you."

Despite Itachi's self doubts of his own ability to be able to control the fox, Itachi agreed. Kakashi made the universal motion to scatter and the three of them leapt to perform their own duties.

The first order of business for Kakashi was to find the man in charge and call off the useless attacks on the fox, which were doing nothing more than causing more shinobis to be killed. Kakashi easily found him in the fray, ordering him to call off the attacks. The man looked hesitant to obey, one turn of a head to allow him a close up view of his Anbu mask startled him into doing his bidding.

The Sandaime appeared, summoning his summon, pushing him to the outskirts of Konoha, jamming him right against the Hokage mountain. Taking advantage of the fox's momentarily captivity, Shisui activated his Body Flicker technique, leaving after images surrounding the fox as he circled him, pulling along the chakra binding chain. After making his round, Shisui tugged on the chain, jamming the fox's legs together and a few tails that were caught.

The fox roared, swiping away at the Shisui images, but the images held.

Meanwhile, Itachi scaled the Hokage mountain, looking for an opening to place the fox under his genjutsu. Down below, Shisui was making quick work of climbing over the fox, ducking and dodging along the way to avoid the fox's sharp claws, while tugging along the chains. Seeing that Itachi didn't need help, Kakashi met Shisui at the ground, taking the end of the chain from him while Shisui went again, pulling along another chain.

The fox was struggling within the chains. Kakashi and Shisui knew that they wouldn't be able to hold him much longer. Kakashi channelled his lightning natured chakra through the chains, sending an electrical shock to the fox, but that only bought them an extra thirty seconds, which allowed Shisui to finish his third round of chains.

From above, Itachi managed to reach the fox's head, using every bit of chakra to ensure that he stuck to the fox while the fox thrashed about, roaring in anger.

What Itachi saw stopped him to his tracks, leading him to be thrown off of the fox's head as it effectively broke free of the chains. Kakashi and Shisui both retreated a distance away as they watched the fox throw his head up in the sky, opening his mouth. A black ball of chakra was forming, growing bigger by the second.

Itachi wiped the blood that trickled down his chin as he joined his two comrades on the rooftops.

"It's already being controlled by someone else," Itachi reported, breathing heavily from the stabbing pain in his ribs. Being thrown fifty meters into the air and to still be standing afterwards was an impressive feat. "We will need to find the summoner and break his control first."

"You can't override his control?" Shisui questioned.

"His Sharingan is more advanced than mine."

"Sharingan?" Shisui replied through gritted teeth. "No matter, we need to take care of that chakra mass before it flattens the village. Kakashi, use your Kamui."

"Already on it." Besides them, Kakashi had already pushed up his forehead protector, revealing his Sharingan, which had already formed into the Mangekyo pattern. The veins in the eye was already visibly strained as Kakashi locked onto the center of the ball, slowly sucking away the chakra.

His concentration broke, sweat dripping down his face as he only managed to take away a bit of the chakra. Never once in his training did Kakashi ever warp away anything of this size, but Konoha was counting on his success.

Fueling up chakra to his eye once more, Kakashi tried again, this time effectively warping the large mass of chakra away steadily. The action constantly tugged at his abysmal chakra reserves, greedily sucking away. When the large ball of chakra was finally completely warped away, Kakashi clutched at his bleeding eye, collapsing backwards from chakra exhaustion. Shisui caught him before his back could hit the ground.

A large toad suddenly poofed into existence, squashing the fox. The fox fought back, thrashing under the toad's weight, but moments later, both the toad and fox disappeared. The village fell quiet once more.

"The Yondaime," Shisui said, eyes in awe at how Minato simply teleported the huge being away. "We should go assist."

Grabbing his two comrades by the arms, Shisui began teleporting through the village, in short bursts to conserve energy. And to prevent his two friends from experiencing a huge whiplash at the end, if he crossed too much distance at once.

Shisui followed the Kyuubi's massive chakra signature. He sighed; if only Rin was there, she would be able to pinpoint their exact location, not him wandering around the general location.

"Rin…"

Was she still alive?

* * *

As she promised, Rin stayed hidden in the shadows in the very corner of the room. She had donned her Anbu gear, complete with the Cat mask to avoid additional questions from the others. She would just be another Anbu guard, among the many who were already stationed within the room and outside of it. There was even an impenetrable barrier, that only Minato could cross with his teleportation technique. If any foreign chakra came intact with the barrier, the sensor team would be immediately alerted.

The sound security measures helped to alleviate Rin's concerns, slightly. There was no was the enemy could get through the barrier.

Except her presence hadn't changed anything regarding the security measures, so if the barrier was already in place in her dreams, then…

Rin shook her head, ridding her mind of those thoughts. No, she wouldn't think about it. She would concentrate on sending comforting words, in her head, to a pained Kushina.

Childbirth was a lot more dangerous to a jinchuuriki than Rin had anticipated. Constantly throughout the process, Minato had to reinforce the seal, only for it to break again. By the time Naruto's head appeared, beads of sweat were running down all over Minato's face.

Biwako, the Sandaime's wife, continued to encourage Kushina to keep pushing, giving her constant updates on what part of Naruto she could see now. With one last look of determination, Kushina pushed and the sound of a wailing child pierced the air. Biwako caught the baby, turning away to clean the baby, while Minato worked to strengthen the seal once more.

Rin didn't miss the tender look that Minato shot at Kushina before whispering to her it would be over soon.

Then Rin felt a foreign chakra appear out of nowhere. That split second tip off had been enough for her to avoid the kunai to throat, nicking her shoulder instead, as a man in black flashed through the room at lightning speed. In seconds, everyone laid dead on the floor, save for Kushina, Minato, and herself.

The man stopped, holding Naruto in one hand, with a kunai pointed at Naruto's bawling face. Rin noted the black cloak that covered the man from head to toe. Only a white mask with black curves and one eye hole was visible. Not a recognizable pattern of any masks worn by shinobis from a different land.

"Cat, remember what I told you," Minato instructed.

For her to escape? No, Minato sensei needed her help.

The mask man demanded Minato step away from Kushina, whose seal was tearing apart by the moment. Rin could practically feel the man smirking from behind his mask as he tossed Naruto into the air. Minato flashed towards Naruto, catching him mid-air, before finding the cloth covered in explosive tags.

Both the masked man and Rin dove towards Kushina at the same time. Rin beat him there, hands moving to close the seal. Her knowledge wasn't as advanced as sensei's, but she needed to buy time until sensei came back…

Rin barely repaired the first level of the seal when she saw a black metal rod pierce the side of her body. Channelling chakra to her hands, Rin used her inhuman strength to break the rod into two, preventing him from pushing it further into his body. Fist ladled with chakra, Rin moved to punch the masked man, ready to scatter his mask when her hand past right through his head.

She felt him coming, but was unable to stop the momentum of her punch and dodge his next blow. Her body was tossed aside, her back slamming against the wall. Through the holes of her mask, Rin watched as the masked man took Kushina before disappearing.

A teleportation technique, Rin analyzed. It allows the user to phase parts of his body so that a direct hit can't be landed. But he needs to materialize to land hits on others.

What was the jutsus weakness? How long could he phase his body for?

Rin grunted as she yanked the rod out of her stomach, already activated her strength of a hundred seals to heal it. Pushing herself to her feet, Rin headed out of the door, using her sensory skills to try to pinpoint his location.

Nothing.

Until his chakra signature magically appeared into existence once more, just like the first time. Rin ran in the direction of his chakra, feeling scared as the Kyuubi's chakra began to intensify. It was leaking out...it wouldn't be long until it broke free.

By the time that Rin reached the area, the Kyuubi was already set free. Kushina collapsed forward, landing on her stomach. Still alive, but barely. From her angle, Rin saw it. The flash of red in the eye hole as he placed the Kyuubi under his control.

Knowing what was coming next, Rin sent chakra to the soles of her feet, pushing herself to reach Kushina in time. The shadow of the Kyuubi's paw loomed over both of them.

A flash of yellow appeared, whisking Kushina away. Rin stopped, ducking and rolling out of the Kyuubi's reach as his palm slammed against the ground, sending earth and rocks flying everywhere. A few stray rocks hit her, but any damage done was healed instantly.

Rin felt the masked man and the Kyuubi's chakra disappear into thin air. Then felt it once more three seconds later, in the direction of Konoha.

_Shit. _

She scrambled to her feet, moving to head to Konoha. She wasn't sure what she could do there, but like hell was she going to stay still.

Only for a man to swirl in existence right in front of her. The masked man.

His chakra felt real, but why did she feel the same exact chakra mix, still in Konoha? Both his other chakra and sensei's flared in the distance, but his chakra was considerably weaker than the version in front of her.

_A clone. _

Rin pulled the flute out from her holster from her back, pointing it straight at the masked man.

"Undo your control on the fox."

As of now, Rin didn't have a viable solution to counter his intangibility, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try.

"How foolish. A mere girl thinks she can fight me and win?"

"If you didn't deem me to be a threat, then why come after me?" Rin retorted, launching senbon at the masked man. He didn't even seem to be fazed and merely took a few steps forward, allowing the senbons to pass through his body, arms, and legs.

_Not just the head, but also his torso and limbs. So he can phase any part of his body at will. _

"A sensor ninja is too troublesome to leave alive," was his only explanation.

Rin attacked, unrelentlessly trying to land a hit on him. One punch had been thrown with too much force, leading her unable to stop her momentum forward. The masked man allowed her body to phase through his entire being, chakra already pulsing towards his left hand.

_He's going to materialize and grab me as soon as I pass through. _

Jamming the tip of her flute to the ground, she used it to somersault over the chains attached to his arm, meant to trap her, no doubt, just out of reach when the masked man materialized. Capitalizing on the small opening, Rin tossed a few senbons.

The masked man was quick to become intangible once more, allowing him to avoid the poison.

The chains clanged against the metal of her flute. The masked man froze as the flute fell flat to the ground. Rin took advantage of the few seconds of opening to rush at him, chakra scalpels already formed.

With alarming speed, the masked man broke out of the genjutsu, quickly immaterializing himself right as Rin dealt the worst of the damage. A thin cut ran down his mask, but wasn't deep enough to break it open.

His hands wrapped around her throat, pressing against it so tightly that Rin could barely breathe.

"Genjutsu of that calibre doesn't work on me," the masked man hissed. "Although it was a clever trick, but that's all it will be."

With the last dredges of her strength, Rin channelled chakra to the soles of her feet, kicking at the masked man. Having predicted her move, the lower half of his torso and legs were already intangible.

Rin saw his Sharingan flash, tomoes spinning until it formed the same pattern that she had seen on Kakashi.

Was it possible for two different Sharingans to have the same Mangekyo pattern? In all of the Mangekyo Sharingans she had seen, every pattern was different, so why was theirs the same. Unless…

She didn't have time to ponder over it any longer as she felt the air near the top of her head get sucked in. Despite her resistance, her head jerked forward with such a force that her neck almost snapped if she hadn't stopped resisting.

_If he's trying to suck me in, then he can't become intangible, right? _

There was only one way to find out. Her hand formed a chakra scalpel once more, the chakra flickering on and off due to her inability to concentrate.

She attacked.

The masked man spluttered, releasing his bone crushing hold on Rin. She tumbled to the ground, head pounding from the manipulation of the space around her head as she gasped for breath. The masked man stumbled backwards, mask cracking in half as he hunched over his torso.

Once her vision came into focus again, she realized it hadn't been her doing. Something had slammed into him, tearing a large hole in his cloak. Blood was dripping down his entire torso, starting from his face where he violently coughed out blood.

His face… Only one visible eye, the Sharingan, and a crushed right side.

"Obito." Wasn't he dead? Why was he alive?

Scrambling to her feet, Rin yanked off her Cat mask, letting her hair frame her face as she approached Obito. Cautiously because she wasn't sure of the man's identity.

The Sharingan registered her presence.

"Rin." Her eyes widened.

"Obito," she whispered. "Why? Why are you attacking Konoha?"

"You have no right to demand answers from me, you imposter," Obito hissed, despite the burning pain that ran up his torso. The right side of him didn't feel anything; in fact, the Zetsu part of him had already detached itself from his body from the moment the bijuu bomb slammed into him. The left side of him felt searing pain, like his whole body was set on fire.

And a fucking imposter had to appear right in front of him.

Rin was dead. Obito saw her die personally with his eye, impaled by Kakashi's chidori. If sensei hadn't interfered, Obito would have gone to her, to cradle her one last time. None of that mattered though; she was dead. And Obito would create a world with her in it.

"What are you talking about?" Fake Rin was saying. "Where's the Obito who wanted to become Hokage? Where's the Obito who was always late because he was helping old ladies? Where's the Obito who swore to never abandon a comrade? Who have you become?"

Obito might have scoffed at her question, but realization hit him. An imposter couldn't possibly know all of those details about him. Not when Team Minato were the only ones who he shared his dream of being Hokage with.

"You...didn't die?"

"No, baka," Rin said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What made you think I was dead? You should have come back to us!"

Logically, Rin knew Obito was the enemy; Obito was the one who unleashed the Kyuubi on Konoha. But emotionally, Rin knew she couldn't let Obito die, so she began to heal him. Even as her healing chakra poured through his body, both of them knew it was too late for him. Not even her seal could save him; not when he didn't have enough cells to regenerate his body before he bled out.

"Take...me to...sensei." Rin strained to hear him. Releasing her healing jutsu, Rin began to form the hand seals to the teleportation jutsu that sensei taught her yesterday. Right before she formed the last seal, her hand latched onto Obito's dying body, dragging the both of them through space, before landing in front of an open clearing.

Kushina's yellow chains were keeping the Kyuubi subdued. Minato's chakra flickered at the sudden arrival of two chakra, his head jerking around to see them.

"No..time. Lend...your hand."

Rin shot Obito a questioning look but allowed him to use her right hand. His remaining hand moved her fingers along with his, forming a sequence of hand seals.

"What are you doing?" The pattern was unrecognizable, nothing even remotely familiar to her.

"What...I should...have done."

That was the last thing that Obito said before he formed the last seal in the sequence, a ram. A flash of light appeared before them, so bright that Rin and Minato had to shield their eyes.

The Kyuubi knew he didn't have much time left. At the flash of light, he tried to kill the baby once more, refusing to be sealed inside that brat. A green skeletal hand reached out, stopping the Kyuubi's claw mere millimeters before it was due to pierce Minato's back. Pushing chakra to his claw, Kurama broke through the skeletal hand, shattering into many pieces before his nail dove into Minato who desperately tried to use the soles of his feet to stop the momentum.

Kushina was next to be impaled, arms wrapping around the nail. Like Minato, her feet moved to stop the Kyuubi's momentum forward. His nail stopped right above Naruto, before he poofed out of existence, the white light consuming him thoroughly, before the light hit Naruto's stomach.

It disappeared, leaving behind a seal on his stomach.

Rin didn't want to leave Obito, but he was already dead and sensei and Kushina needed her help. Rushing towards their falling bodies, Rin noted the heavy amount of blood loss. They had less than thirty seconds to live. Pressing her hands to their bodies, Rin activated the strength of hundred seals once more, letting the black markings spread over their bodies. Opening two reservoirs of her chakra, she channelled an immense amount of her healing chakra through both of their bodies, hoping to close their wounds in time.

Fifteen seconds into healing Kushina, Rin felt her heart stop beating. Dejectedly, she released her hand from Kushina, instead channeling the chakra into Minato sensei. At the very least, saving her sensei's life would be the last thing she would do.

She felt a steady heartbeat. Weak, but steady. Rin almost wanted to cry out in relief, but knew he wasn't safe yet.

Other chakra signatures had arrived at the scene, but her thoughts were too jumbled to actually focus on the newcomers. All she saw were other medics, gently prying her hands away from Minato. Rin wanted to fight back, insisting that she could finish healing him, but her body was too tired to disagree.

Kushina was dead. That fact hit her even harder when she saw the medics carting her away in a body bag. And Naruto, poor Naruto was made into a jinchuuriki barely an hour since his birth.

Rin felt the comforting presence of her team, sitting down on the grass beside her. All three of them looked worse for wear, varying cuts and scratches, and chakra exhaustion. She began to absently heal them, starting from Kakashi's bleeding eye. When Rin began healing Itachi's dislocated shoulder, her green chakra flickered on and off.

Shisui grabbed her hand, pushing it back down to her lap.

"That's enough," Shisui ordered. "Save your chakra and heal yourself."

She didn't even feel any physical pain. No, all the pain was in her heart.

"What do we do now?" Her teary eyes gazed in the direction of the village, smoke still dissipating into the sky. The wreckage in the clearing was obvious, with the roots of trees upturned and the earth torn out of the ground. Blood stained the entire clearing. Obito's body, or what was left of it, was still burning, leaving the air with the smell of a burnt corpse.

"We heal."

* * *

**A/N: Hey again! :)**

**So this chapter...I think we all knew it was coming. :( I know one of my reviewers speculated that it was possible for Obito to mistake Rin for dead, but at the same time, he should have realized she was alive during his multiple trips to spy on the village. My explanation: Zetsu did all of the spying this time around and reported false information to Obito. **

**I have so many different endings to this chapter that it was ridiculous. Even as I was writing the first half, I kept thinking of how I wanted to end it...in the end, I had to force myself to decide, so here it is. As much as I would like to keep everyone alive, Kushina wasn't going to survive since the fox had been extracted from her. Minato is currently in critical condition and his situation will be addressed in the next chapters. **

**And Obito. If it wasn't clear, the "thing" that hit Obito was the tailed beast bomb that Kakashi had warped away with the Kamui in the first half of the story. And Obito managed to survive it for a bit (I stand by it since he survived all sorts of things during the 4th Great Ninja War, so what's a tailed beast bomb? lol), long enough to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. And honestly, Obito is going to die here in my story. I always thought he was kind of wacky for starting an entire war over a dead girl? Yes, I know he was also brainwashed by Madara, but damn. **

**Next chapter is called Aftermath. (How creative of me, I know hahaha)**

**Anyways, let me know if this was what you predicted/if there are any alternate endings that you would like to see. Let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	15. Aftermath

**Chapter Fourteen: Aftermath**

The Fourth Hokage was praised as a hero. The destruction was unspeakable, the death tolls were high, but there was no doubt that it would have been higher if it hadn't been for the Fourth. The village would have been flattened if it wasn't for the quick thinking and action of Team Ro.

Yet Team Ro was in no mood to gloat, not when the Fourth Hokage was in a coma.

The Third retook the position of Hokage, claiming that it was only "temporary," until Minato woke up. His optimism was contagious to the rest of the village, but Team Ro didn't buy it. Not when Rin was Minato's tending doctor and knew there was only 34% chance that he would wake up.

And within the 34% chance of him waking up, there was a 46% chance that he would be able to become a shinobi again, not with the internal injuries that Rin had been too late to heal.

Seeing that Rin was too distraught to think about anything other than sensei's impending death, Kakashi took it upon himself to make sure he knew where Naruto was. Safe with a caretaker. Rin would ask when she came to her senses.

Shisui lamented about his inability to save the Fourth, cursing that his Susanoo had broken so easily under the force of the Kyuubi. But who could have known? This was the first time that any of them had seen the Kyuubi face to face.

No matter who prodded, Rin remained surprisingly tight lipped about the entire ordeal. Time after time, the Third sent her closest friends to try to get the information out of her. It was important as she was the only one left alive who had seen the perpetrator. As a last resort, the Third ordered Team Ro to try to get information out of her.

They didn't glean much out of her, like everyone else, but was able to report a crucial piece of information to the Hokage. The masked man was dead, his body burnt to a crisp. They were assigned to check the coordinates that Rin gave them and came back with a small pile of ash. Or what was left of it, after the wind took away some of it.

The Third looked disturbed to hear that Itachi had seen the Sharingan on the Kyuubi. Danzo demanded a thorough investigation of the Uchiha clan, while Hiruzen countered that the masked man was already dead.

"On the basis of what? A grieving medic and a pile of ashes?"

Itachi and Shisui volunteered to investigate their own clan, believing nothing suspicious would turn up. In the days leading up to the funeral for all those who lost their lives in the attack, Itachi and Shisui kept themselves busy around the Uchiha compound.

Kakashi often visited the hospital, despite his dislike for the place. Often times, his appearance served as a reminder to Rin that she needed to eat or go home and sleep. When Rin refused to leave, Kakashi was the one who brought her food, stayed in the room with her until she caved in to sleep. Always, he would drape a spare blanket over her body and disentangle her head from sensei's, lest she gripped too hard and cut off sensei's hand circulation.

Anyone could see that Rin was taking the loss very hard, but Kakashi was much better at keeping his feelings locked away. Anyone who saw him would only see apathy. In reality, Kakashi was taking it hard too, probably even more than Rin. It felt like Obito all over again, watching the rocks completely crush the right side of his body. Or Rin again, where he genuinely believed she had died, by his own hand.

Though he would never admit it, Kushina had grown on him. In the beginning, she was just sensei's girlfriend, someone he was polite to simply because he respected sensei. Yet through the many lunches she brought, forced dinners at their place, Kakashi had sort of gotten attached to the boisterous woman in his life. Just like Obito, she brought the party to life.

At this point, he could only hope that sensei would wake up soon. He didn't know how much more grief his heart or mind could take before he drove himself insane. One by one, all of his precious people were being ripped away from him.

He had been foolish to let them in, in the first place. Too naive to cherish the time he had with them. Too stupid to think that they would always be there, alive.

The only time that Rin left the hospital, or rather she was forced to leave, was when a council meeting was called. As the only one who was there when the masked man arrived, her testimony was necessary. Team Ro was also called into attendance.

And for the first time since the attack, Konoha finally heard the full story although severely fragmented. Rin recounted the story, but it didn't seem like her mind was there at all and that bothered the council. Especially Danzo and the two Elders, who interrupted her story every two seconds to prod for details.

The clan heirs were visibly annoyed at their constant interruptions, even if Rin was not. At least let the girl finish the story, before asking for more details.

"So I fought him," Rin was saying.

"And?" Homura prodded.

"He died. Well, he almost died. Almost dying, maybe five more minutes before his heart gave out."

"You expect us to believe that you single handedly took out an S ranked ninja?" Danzo.

"Well, I don't really care whether or not you believe me," Rin told him honestly. "All you need to know is that the masked man is dead."

Explaining exactly how Rin defeated him would require too much time, too many details that could very well blow Obito's cover. Or the village would end up suspecting Kakashi or worse, the Uchiha clan as a whole. Not that they already haven't, once Itachi mentioned that the Kyuubi was controlled by the Sharingan.

Yet their investigation yielded that everyone was accounted for during the attack, save for the ones that died. Their bodies have since been retrieved from the rubble.

"Minato sensei was fighting his shadow clone at the time I was fighting his real body," Rin added, after remembering this particular fact. "I felt the same chakra signature in a different location at the time."

"Your account of the entire situation is too scattered, too fragmented for it to be believable," Koharu interjected.

"Well, it's better than your theories, right? The man was a Uchiha sure, but he wasn't even human. I have no doubt that he had already long defected Konoha."

The Third finally cut in, signalling that this discussion was over. Rin gave a fake smile to the council, before plopping down in her seat.

Was it right of her to hide Obito's identity? Probably not, but Rin wanted to take the secret with her to the grave. At least she would bear the burden of knowing Obito's true identity and spare Kakashi of it.

He'll still have the untainted version of his best friend ingrained in his memories. Not the one preaching about "creating a perfect world" and ruthlessly destroying his previous home to attain his goals.

The conversation moved on to relocation of clans as their clan compounds were destroyed in the attack.

The council had graciously offered Kakashi a replacement land to replace the Hatake compound, which had been one of the many buildings destroyed in the attack. The land was a lot smaller than the area that the Hatake compound spanned, but Kakashi accepted it nonetheless. He was the last clan member anyway and having a "compound" was simply for sentimental value, not of practical use. Not when he lived at his apartment.

The council moved on to offer the Nara clan a compound near the outskirts of Konoha, knowing their preference of having forestry.

The placement had seemed fair, until it reached the Uchiha clan. Danzo pointed to the plot of land, on the very outskirts of Konoha, which was in practical isolation. A blatant power play as his beady eye dared anyone to challenge his suggestion.

Fugaku was clearly angered by this, but bit back his true thoughts, knowing that he would be on the losing side. After all, their heads was planted with suspicions that the Uchihas were the cause of the attack. Even if a clan head didn't believe it was true, no one would stick their head out for another clan; not when it didn't concern them.

Danzo cleared his throat, about to move on to the next clan, when someone suddenly spoke up.

In favor of the Uchihas.

"That's blatant discrimination," Rin drawled. "Why is it that you appease all the other clans, but not the Uchihas. Plot 24 is a much better option. There's a lake for them to practice the fireball jutsu and it's closer to the village. Makes no sense to keep the Uchiha police force that far away from the village."

And of course, the only person who would stick their head on the metaphorical chopping block for the Uchiha clan, was a clanless kunoichi. What did she have to lose anyways? Besides, Rin knew her words held a lot of weight, especially in recent years when she saved more members' lives from the prominent clans than she cared to admit. And the most stuck up clans, Hyuga and Uchiha, were also the most grateful. Even if they would never openly admit it.

"You know nothing." Danzo tried to dismiss her claims as nothing, but it was clear that the other clan heads were beginning to doubt Danzo's decision.

The Hyuga was the first to speak for the Uchiha, surprisingly. "It will do the village no good if its police force is in isolation."

A chorus of agreements rang out among the clan heads.

"The villagers fear the presence of the Uchiha after the attack. It is better to keep them further away from the village. And naturally, the Uchiha would be stripped of its governing powers associated with its police force," Koharu cut in.

"You suspect," Kakashi stated. "You have no evidence that it is one of our own Uchiha who committed the crime. If that's the case, you will only serve to alienate one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. Is another war what you want?"

"I don't believe that you have much of an opinion, son of White Fang," Homura replied.

"Oh? So you are willing to start another war by alienating the Uchiha clan? Just like your condemnation of my father drove him to suicide?"

"Besides, I was the one who was there. And believe me when I say it's not one of our own," Rin added.

Danzo knew he was fighting a losing battle when the Nara clan chipped in, suggesting to draw lots instead of assigning. In that case, there wouldn't be any discrimination or displeasure from receiving an undesirable land plot. Kakashi was the first to put his plot of land into the mix, followed by the Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Hyuga.

In the end, drawing plots of land hadn't been necessary. Danzo conceded, allowing Uchiha to claim plot 24, while their original assigned plot was given to the Aburame clan, who favored isolation. Danzo and the Elders were fuming at the outcome of the meeting.

Damned Uchiha loving brats.

Itachi and his father caught up with Rin and Kakashi as they exited the council room, heading in the direction of the hospital once more.

"Thank you for speaking up for us," Itachi said, bowing slightly. His father was too proud to do so, but gratitude was written all over his face.

"They're just being ridiculous," Rin said, waving off his thanks. "The Uchiha clan is innocent."

"You know the identity of the masked man," Itachi stated.

"Yes, he's some underling of Madara Uchiha. A descendant of one of his followers." A half lie, but that would do. It was the most that she could come up with, after the conversation that she had with Obito, who visited her in her mind landscape when she finally fell asleep.

* * *

"Ne, are you alright?"

The younger version of Obito appeared before her in the yellowish landscape, a dimension of some sort? That Obito had his goggled pushed up to his forehead, hand reaching out to comfort the older version of herself, the one in Anbu uniform. Her Cat mask was pushed to the side of her head, tears openly sliding down her face.

"You don't deserve to appear before me like that," Rin hissed. "You're no longer the Obito who I know."

Gradually, the younger Obito disappeared, replaced by his masked man persona. Except his left half of his body was already missing, reduced to nothing more than just a glob of goo.

"I'm sorry." The fact that older Obito had the decency to look sorry; Rin was angry.

"You killed Kushina nee and Minato sensei might not live!" Rin shouted at him. Reaching into her kunai holster, she pulled a kunai out, throwing it right at him. Unfortunately, this was her mind landscape and Obito was made up of the remnants of his chakra that he injected into her before he died, so Obito remained uninjured.

Unfortunately.

"Why?" Rin looked defeated, shoulders sagging as she stared blankly at the ground. "What could possibly possess you to do that?"

She listened absently to Obito, who told her all about how he had survived. How Zetsu found him and repaired his body with Hashirama cells before taking him to Madara. How Madara had deemed him to be the successor of his Eye of Moon plan. How Madara collaborated with Kiri to kidnap her, to seal the sanbi inside of her, to destroy Konoha in the process and allowing him to see his precious village being destroyed and his friends dying.

"I suppose seeing your death just set something off inside of me," Obito admitted, sadly. "The desire to create a world, a world where everything is perfect. Everyone that I care about is alive; everything goes exactly how I want it to."

Rin shook her head. "That's no excuse. When your friend dies, you move on. You become stronger to protect the next generation. You become stronger so you can prevent another friend from dying. You move on."

"It hurts," Rin continued. "It leaves a damn hole in your heart. But you keep living because you know the person will want you to. You keep living for the person, so when you die, you can tell them all about. Just like how Kakashi kept living and didn't succumb to the hatred in his heart...because he promised you that he would let you see the future with your eye."

"I know, but I can only count on you to stop it. Even if I am dead, there are others who are carrying out my will. Madara's will."

The disappointment on her face grew by the second as Obito told her all that he had done thus far. The Ame orphans that he approached, to start a new group called the Akatsuki. Their plans to expand the organization by recruiting S ranked missing nins.

"For the plan to be executed, they will hunt down all nine tailed beasts. When all nine beasts are gathered together, the ten tails will be born. Along with the Rinnegan, the Eye of Moon plan will be activated and it will place everyone under a dream."

"But you are the only one who knows how to activate it, do you not? Even if your underlings gather the necessary tailed beasts, no one can activate it."

"Perhaps that is the case," Obito said. "But as a precaution...Madara is a crafty man. I wouldn't put it past him to have a back up plan."

"And Madara? Is he dead?"

"Supposedly."

Well, that wasn't comforting to know at all, even more so than the looming threat of a potential S class criminal organization.

"Don't worry; they won't get past the three tails."

She may not know where to track them down and prevent them from forming, or where the other two tailed beasts were, but she would be damned if she couldn't halt the plan at the third tailed beast. After all, there was no way she was giving up Isobu, not without a fight.

"This a goodbye," Obito told her, as his chakra began to flicker on and off. The older Obito cracked one more, sad smile at her. "I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me, one day."

Rin wouldn't.

And since that day, she would never visit the memorial stone ever again.

Not when the Obito she would always remember was the perpetrator behind the Kyuubi attack, the killer of Kushina nee, and the first domino to fall in the many events to follow.

* * *

Rin placed herself on an indefinite leave from the Shinobi Corps to work tirelessly to figure out if there was any way to help sensei wake up. Her research allowed her to figure out a way to increase his chances of remaining a shinobi to 68%, but that was all contingent on him waking up first.

The funeral came and went, the reparations were started and everything seemingly went back to normal. The Third was the stand in Hokage, but as more time passed, the more it seemed to everyone that the Sandaime was here to stay. Their optimism waned, before flickering out completely by the third month of Minato's comatose state.

Kakashi wanted to be pulled off the active mission roster so he could stay with his sensei as well, but Rin managed to convince him to stay in the Anbu, stay apart of Team Ro. With the uncertainty and underlying tension between the Hokage and Danzo, the Third would need all the help he could get. Rather than being sent on missions after missions, Team Ro was now considered to be part of the Sandaime's personal guards.

That allowed Itachi to stay in the village and spend more time in the village. Additionally, Itachi and Shisui's presence at the Uchiha compound helped to curb some of the restlessness at Fugaku's lack of inaction towards the village. Predictably, many of the Uchihas were angry at the false accusations placed upon them. Even if Danzo's scheme to isolate them had failed, the Uchihas were still on the receiving end of many suspicious looks from villagers. Some even dared to hurl some spiteful choice of words at some clansmen.

Kakashi and Shisui had also teamed up to do their own private investigation of Danzo and the supposed Foundation. The Fourth had dissolved it under his leadership, but there were still some suspicious activity that went on. For the most part, the Third preferred to turn a blind eye to the situation, but Kakashi and Shisui would not.

Their vigilance paid off when they were able to successfully foil a plan to kill the Third Hokage. Kakashi had taken to impersonate the Hokage, drawing away the mysterious nins, while Shisui and Itachi guarded the Third on the way to the Daimyo's castle. Kakashi killed off all of the nins, save for one where he tried to use interrogation tactics to get him to talk.

The nin tried, but was immediately killed for speaking. Kakashi found a seal on his tongue, burning the pattern into his mind. He would ask Rin about it later.

Between his knowledge, Rin's knowledge, and Kushina's gift of a book on fuinjutsu, Kakashi managed to figure out that it was a seal designed to keep someone from talking. There was a trigger, a specific word or topics that the nin wasn't allowed to mention. The warning was a burn to the tongue and if the nin persisted too long in trying to speak on the forbidden topic, the seal would kill them. Yet, Kakashi was unable to figure out the origins of the seal or who the caster was.

Back to square one.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again. :)**

**So some concerns that I wanted to clear up from the previous chapter: **

**Kakashi doesn't know the man is Obito. At the very end, Rin is the one who is narrating and I understand that it might have been sort of confusing. By the time Kakashi arrived at the scene, Obito's body was already burnt to the point where he is unrecognizable. **

**So how did Obito get hit? While Rin was attacking him, Obito's phased part of his body to the other dimension. At the same time, on the other side of the village, Kakashi used Kamui to warp the bijuu bomb away into that dimension. Since their eyes are connected, Obito got blasted with the bomb. **

**Why couldn't Rin heal him? Rin certainly did have enough chakra, that wasn't the problem. The artificial part of his body had been ripped apart at that point and he was suffering injuries from being slammed with a bijuu bomb; I can't imagine any medical ninjutsu being able to save him from that. Plus, Obito didn't want her to heal him, he wanted to get to the site. **

**How did Obito seal the nine tails? Well, here's my explanation. The last bit of the chapter was narrated from Rin's POV, so naturally she wasn't able to understand exactly what he did or how the kyuubi got sealed. In my mind, I pictured him using the Reaper's Death seal (like Minato did in canon), and it split half into Naruto and half into himself. So essentially, Obito took Minato's place of what happened in canon. Then Obito set his body on fire before the reaper took his soul away, to destroy his Sharingan. **

**Hope that clears up some things. :) **

**Now as for this chapter, I hope you can understand why Rin refuse to reveal the true identity of the masked man. One, no one would believe that a supposedly dead man (an Uchiha that was seen to be a black sheep as well) could pull off the attack. Two, she didn't want Kakashi to find out. **

**As for whether or not Rin forgave Obito, I struggled with this part. In canon, it seems that Rin did forgive Obito for everything he did, but that was also after Obito redeemed himself and she had already been dead for a long time that point. I think here, the incident is too fresh on her mind and the fact that she has to live with their deaths makes it harder for her to forgive. **

**Anyways predictions: Minato's fate will be revealed in the next chapter. What do you think it will be? **

**Next chapter is called His Legacy.**

**Thanks for reading and until next time!**

**-MM**


	16. His Legacy

**Chapter Fifteen: His Legacy**

Exactly two hundred and twenty two days since the Kyuubi's attack, the Fourth was proclaimed to be dead. It happened in the middle of the night, one of the rare times when Rin wasn't there, and the machine flatlined. The medics on duty tried to save him, but due to his vegetative state, his brain shut down a lot faster than it normally would after the heart stopped beating.

A minute later, he was proclaimed dead.

As his body was wheeled into the morgue room, a debate broke out in the hospital as who would be the one to inform Rin. Those who had seen her in the beginning of her teacher's comatose state had grown to fear her crankiness and mood swings when she was bothered. The medics had learned to just stay away, watching in awe as a silver haired shinobi was the only one to successfully enter the room and not get kicked out.

Since then, if Rin showed any concerning symptoms, the medics would talk to the silver haired shinobi instead.

As time passed, Rin had become better, almost her usual cheerful self, save for the fact that she worked relentlessly to do anything to help her sensei. A good way to channel some of her anger and grief, a psychologist would say.

Still, the other medics were still wary of getting too close to the grieving girl. That wasn't to say that they weren't secretly happy to have the best medical ninja back within their ranks in the hospital, where she ended up in multiple life saving surgeries, created many antidotes to a variety of cases that had been deemed a lost case before she came along, and well, boosted the overall moral of the hospital. The comfort of knowing that she was there, someone to fall back on if they were unable to figure out a cure was an irreplaceable feeling. One that Tsunade gave them when she was the head of the hospital, then Rin.

But how could any of them break the news to her?

It turned out that their worries were completely unfounded. It started with the night shift medics being relieved from duty and passing along that message to the day shift medics. Then the night shift medics went home and told their spouses, if they had one, about the Fourth's death. A few of those spouses were shinobis, who immediately went to the Hokage Tower to inquire the validity of what they heard. In turn, the Third reached out to the head of the hospital for confirmation. He received the confirmation and immediately issued a grieving statement to the village. Preparations for the funeral were made, to be held in three day's time.

Kakashi was the first to have heard, arriving first to the Anbu locker room. A fellow Anbu member had directed him to one of the notice boards, that was plastered all over Konoha. With a comforting hand pat, the Anbu left Kakashi to his own devices.

By the time that Itachi and Shisui arrived to report for duty, they were both already made aware of the Fourth's death. Shisui from the gossip that spread through the streets of the Uchiha compound and Itachi, from his father, who as clan head, had received a messenger hawk informing him of the sudden circumstance.

Team Ro wasn't the type to skirt their duties, but they couldn't deny that the thoughts of the Fourth's death and by extension, Rin's wellbeing was on the forefront of their minds as they mindlessly carried out their surveillance duties.

Once Izumi heard, she immediately headed for the hospital, thinking Rin would be there. However after scouring through the entire hospital, including double checking the morgue room and asking the staff, there wasn't a single trace of her. The receptionist had even confirmed Rin hadn't stepped foot inside of the hospital, not since she left yesterday afternoon.

On the other hand, Kurenai and Asuma were convinced that Rin would either be at Kushina's grave or one of her favorite food shops, as the girl was known to stress eat on many occasions. Per Kurenai's lead, the duo went to every shop that Kurenai believed to be Rin's favorite places to eat.

There hadn't been a single trace of her.

Stopping along the way to Kushina's grave at a Yamanaka shop, the pair picked up a bouquet of flowers to pay their respects to Kushina. The two of them did just that, but didn't feel a trace of Rin's presence here or seen any sign there had been anyone here at all. The memorial stone was the next viable option, but it was empty. Not even Kakashi, the most frequent visitor, was around.

Rin's apartment was the last stop, but it was empty, like they expected. In fact, the insides were so dusty that the pair suspected that there hadn't been an inhabitant in a few weeks. Upon closer inspection, Kurenai was the one to note that a large chunk of Rin's wardrobe was missing from her closet, as well as some essential toiletries.

Kurenai and Asuma knew they weren't supposed to bother the Anbu when they were on duty. In fact, they were supposed to pretend to not know they were there and continue their day as they normally would, but Asuma really couldn't pass up the chance when he saw a familiar mop of silver hair flash step across the rooftops. Getting Kurenai's attention with the tug of her arm, Asuma pointed in the direction where Kakashi had gone, with the two Uchiha cousins in the vicinity.

Scaling the wall of a dango shop, Asuma and Kurenai landed on the rooftops and began to head after the trio. If there was anyone who would know where Rin was, it would be these three. And if there was anyone who could understand Rin's grief, it would be Kakashi, who had been equally attached to the Yondaime.

The black haired Uchiha had been the first to halt, turning around to face them. A mysterious hand sign later, the black haired Uchiha had successfully garnered the attention of his other two comrades. Kakashi, who had been one building ahead of them, backtracked and landed right in between his two Uchiha comrades.

His right hand went to his face, lifting his mask and pushing it to the side of his face.

"Oi, we're not supposed to reveal our identities," the black haired Uchiha hissed. Kakashi's face remained impassive.

"It's not like anyone doesn't know who we are at this point," Kakashi drawled. "Besides, Asuma and Kurenai followed us for a reason, right? So they must already know who we are. So, talk. The Third doesn't like it if we are idle for too long."

"I'm sure you've already heard the news," Kurenai managed to rush out. Speaking to Kakashi had always been intimidating for her and this time was no different. "We wanted to find Rin, to give her some moral support, but we can't find her anywhere. Do you know where she would go?"

Kakashi's expression was unreadable. "If she doesn't want to be found, then no one can find her."

After all, it simply wasn't that hard for Rin to feel their chakra signatures coming and if she wanted to avoid them, then she would.

Kurenai frowned. "I see."

"Thank you for the concern though. I'll pass that along if I see her."

None of them missed the way Kakashi said _if _rather than _when _like even he wasn't sure if Rin would want to meet him. If that was the case, then Rin would see no one.

Replacing his mask in its rightful place, Kakashi motioned for them to get a move on. The three Anbu flash stepped to the next rooftop, leaving Asuma and Kurenai to dust.

"Nothing more we can do."

The two of them went on with their day, and eventually got called into the Hokage's office for a mission briefing. They proceeded to tackle the mission as normal, except for the small part of their minds that wouldn't let go of the worried feeling they had for their peers.

There were minor talks of replacing the Hokage, but it was quickly hushed, deemed inappropriate to talk about so soon after the Fourth's death.

_Later, _they said. _At least after the funeral. _

Team Ro's shift seemed to drag on more than normal. Surveillance was an incredibly boring job to begin with, but combine that with a recent tragedy, there was no doubt their thoughts were everywhere but on surveillance.

The Third was forced to end their shift early, after multiple reports from other Anbu about their lack of concentration. He sighed; he supposed it was inevitable that they would need some time to coup, especially since they had been particularly close with the Fourth.

Team Ro had been surprised to receive three days off, per order of the Hokage, but didn't question it. In different intervals of the evening, the three of them took turns to pay their respects to Kushina, as well as visit the memorial stone for those whose bodies were unrecoverable. Kakashi stayed the longest, just sitting in front of Kushina's grave. There wasn't much to say to her. All there was companionable silence as Kakashi shed silent tears, soaking through his mask completely.

He was almost certain that Kushina was weeping along with him.

At some point, he moved to the memorial stone, to update Obito on their sensei's death. The only response he received was a slight breeze of the wind.

Then Kakashi picked himself back up and retreated to the confines of his own apartment. From there, Kakashi began to dig up every last memento he had of his sensei's, from the three pronged kunai that he gave him as a jonin gift, to the special plated sword he had gotten for his birthday, to the various scrolls and books given to him in his chunin days, to the various tupperwares that Minato kept forgetting to retrieve after bringing him Kushina's cooking, and finally, to their team picture.

Team Minato. Formed at the age of nine. Disbanded at the age of twelve.

Kakashi piled everything into a box, excluding the sword. He would carry the sword everywhere, replacing the standard Anbu issued katana. It would serve as a comfort, that Minato was always there to watch his back. The picture, Kakashi kept on his desk. Everything else, including the special kunai, Kakashi put in the box before sealing it shut with his newly acquired fuinjutsu knowledge.

Kakashi pushed the box under his bed, vowing to one day to impart the box to Naruto, sensei's son, when he was old enough.

The Third no doubt already sent some Anbu to clean out Minato and Kushina's home, the least that Naruto could have was some memento from his parents. Something to remember them by.

Turns out, the Third did send Anbu to pack up Minato and Kushina's home, except the Anbu were all sent away by an angry Rin. She had chased them away, flailing a piece of paper, which she repeatedly said was Minato's will. The Anbu reported the incident to the Hokage, who turned to the archives.

Indeed, the archives came up with Minato's will, stating everything was to be left to his students. No more Anbu were sent.

The damned piece of paper was hidden in Minato's favorite book, _The Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. _It had been a complete accident that Rin found it in the first place; all she wanted to do was curl up on their couch and read her sensei's favorite book to find out exactly why it was his favorite book. And supposedly, he had even named his son after the main character of the story. She opened the book, to find a signature from Jiraiya and a folded piece of paper.

It had taken her an hour to finally stop crying when she first saw the news of her sensei's death. Unfolding the piece of paper had only set off the waterworks once more as she found that Minato had left everything to Kakashi and her. Obito's name had once been there, but was eventually crossed out.

Flipping through the pages of the book, two more envelopes fell out, one addressed to her and one addressed to Kakashi. Setting aside Kakashi's envelope, Rin shakily opened her letter. In no way was she emotionally prepared to read it, but she read through the whole thing, while tears continued to slide down her cheeks.

_Rin,_

_I'm sorry that you are reading this letter because that means I died before I was supposed to. The truth is, I've started writing these letters even during the Third Great Ninja War and occasionally updating it because in our line of profession, our longevity isn't guaranteed. _

_Don't cry. I know you are crying since you were always the most expressive of one in our team. But don't cry. I know it's hard, but I want you to be happy. I'm just glad that Kushina and I had gotten the opportunity to watch you grow up. _

_As I am writing this, Kushina is pregnant with our son. I'm not sure if our son will be born by the time you read this letter, but if he is, can you take care of him in our stead? When he's older, please tell him that we are sorry that we weren't able to see him grow up. But tell him, we'll love him, always and unconditionally. _

_This is Kushina here. Minato worries too much, I have complete faith that you will look over our son for us. Unlike that Hatake, you were always the most trustworthy one. Che, be sure to remember your promise to me; that you will teach our son fuinjutsu. I'm sure there's some more books on fuinjutsu lying around the house; they're all yours. Don't let the Uzimaki sealing techniques die with me; that would be terrible. _

_Like Minato said, don't be sad. We'll be watching you from above and everytime you cry over us, you can expect to feel a ladle hit your head. _

_Minato again. Thank you for being a wonderful student. Don't feel too guilty if you were there; I know you did everything you could to save us. Perhaps the only thing that I regret was spending more time teaching the two knuckleheads on your team. As a parting gift, I have enclosed the sealing formula and instructions to using the Hiraishin. I'm not sure if it's enough for you to learn how to use it completely, but I have faith in you. _

_If you are interested in learning the Rasengan, Kakashi can teach it to you. _

_Perhaps one day, you will become an even greater shinobi than I ever was. Goodbye. _

_Minato, Kushina. _

The back of the page was filled with Minato's familiar scrawl, with the secrets to Hiarishin.

After reading the letter, it had taken her another two hours for her to finally stop crying. Though sensei and Kushina nee told her not to cry, it was impossible not to, not when the two people who died were practically her only remaining family.

Surprisingly, Rin held it together well enough to begin exploring the house and packing. Both of their clothes were packed away in boxes; perhaps, Naruto would be interested in having them in the future. The expired food was tossed away. The books and decorations stayed; that was one thing that Rin was never going to change about the house. With a simple water jutsu, she watered the neglected plant on the windowsill.

It was probably past saving, but it was worth a shot.

Both of their weapons stash were combined with her own. There were scrolls and scrolls of weapons, as Rin quickly found out as she began to unseal some of the storage scrolls. There was everything ranging from standard kunai and shurikens, to katanas and chakra suppressing chains. Rin set it aside; she would sort this out later with Kakashi, who was bound to show up anytime soon. These weapons would probably be more useful in his hands, in the hands of someone who actually knew how to use them.

Their weapons stash was flooded with Minato's standard three pronged kunai, each of them wrapped in the sealing formula. Rin peeled off the sealing formula from the handle, almost ripping the fragile paper before she began studying it, reaching to grab the letter. Using the instructions and explanations given and her own knowledge of seals, Rin began to pick apart the design.

For two days, Rin stayed at their house until Kakashi finally showed up. When he did, his eyes were rimmed red, evidence of crying as hers probably was too, but neither one of them mentioned it. Instead, Kakashi just casually stepped aside the mess that Rin made on the floor of the living room, including many stacked boxes and scrolls scattered everywhere. On the coffee table was the Hiraishin formula, three sheets of paper full of her own handwriting from decoding the formula.

"You're late," Rin simply stated, before tossing his letter, still unopened at Kakashi. Kakashi caught it, stared at it curiously, before tearing open the envelope. His lone eye roved over the words. She averted her eyes when she saw the first tear slip down his face.

"You got one too?" Rin nodded, jerking her chin towards her own letter.

"Ne, sensei left you his technique?" Kakashi questioned, moving to take a seat next to her on the floor. Rin slid the paper over to him; his eyes already taking in everything. After he finished, Kakashi reached for the unfurled sealing formula, then her notes, flipping through it and reading it at an incredibly fast pace.

"We'll figure it out together," Kakashi assured her, setting down the papers.

"Did he leave you anything?"

"Ah, sort of. You know how sensei has always been trying to combine his wind nature chakra into his Rasengan? He just left me some theories to work with, if I ever was interested in finishing his technique."

"You should," Rin told him. "At least so you can pass the memento on to his kid when he's old enough."

"Ah, I'll have to see about that. Are you ready to go see him?"

Rin stood up, nodding. It was now or never; tomorrow was the funeral, where he would be buried six feet under, in his own plot right next to Kushina.

* * *

The morgue room was cold, but it felt even colder to her, knowing that her sensei was lying in one of these body bags. Kakashi said nothing as his lone eye took in his surroundings, the piles of identical bags, simply identifiable by the lone tag that hung from the zipper. He helped Rin to locate the one with their sensei's name on it and helped her haul it onto the cart in the middle of the room.

Rin's gloved hand reached for the zipper, pulling it down, revealing their dead sensei. His skin was deathly pale. Kakashi's fingers itched to touch his sensei once more, but he refrained knowing that the body had already hardened to the point where it didn't even feel human anymore.

Rin seemed to not share the same qualms as Kakashi did. Instead her fingers reached to inspect Minato's entire body, moving his stiff limbs so she could check the underside. Once Rin was done with the front, she lifted Minato's body, checking his backside as well.

Something caught her eye. Placing Minato down on the bag, Rin reached for his neck, twisting his stiff neck slightly so that she could get a better look.

"What's there?" Kakashi asked curiously, peering to get a closer look. He didn't see anything odd.

Rin pointed at something. "There's a hole. Like the size of a needle. It's very thin, like they tried to use a needle that resembled the size of the pores of our skin, but I can tell the difference. Besides look."

Rin gestured to Minato's right arm, where there were visible needle holes - at least visible to Kakashi's untrained eyes - from where he was hooked up to the IV drips.

"That's hospital size," Rin explained. "Even the smallest needles that appear in the hospital aren't that small."

"Are you suggesting that it's an outside job?"

Rin grimly nodded.

The two of them kept quiet on their findings. Rin slinked into the lab, allowing Kakashi entrance as she hunted down the last bit of blood sample taken, by one of the medics that had been on duty an hour before Minato died. Kakashi watched as Rin donned her lab coat, tied her hair up, and put on googles and began to inspect the blood sample with so many different machines and at different angles.

For a proclaimed genius, Kakashi genuinely had no idea about anything relating to experiments. Or medicines. All he knew was some basic first aid tactics, courtesy of said kunoichi that was in front of him, and did read up on poisonous plants to keep himself out of trouble.

But that was the extent of his knowledge.

While Rin spent the next couple of hours in the lab, examining and running tests on who knows what, Kakashi's eye roamed around the room, spotting a lot of books and random equipment that he had never seen. The smell of antiseptic wasn't as strong here, but it was still prominent to bother his sensitive nose.

By the second hour, Kakashi was itching to leave - how did Rin stand it here all the time? - but he kept quiet and silently waited for Rin to finish. After all, this concerned whether or not his sensei was murdered in cold blood. If that was the case, then like hell was Kakashi going to let him or her get away with it.

"There's a foreign substance in his bloodstream," Rin finally said, shaking the vial in her hand. "Upon closer examination, I found that it's a type of poison. I just started working on breaking down the components of the poison. Once that's done, I'll be able to narrow the potential list of suspects."

"It's already pretty low," Kakashi pointed out. "Hypothetically, it was an outside job. The person would need to be able to break through all of Konoha's security measures and get past the Anbu guards. Seeing how neither reported anything suspicious, I highly doubt it."

"And if it's an inside job?"

"If it's an inside job, it would be a familiar face, one that the Anbu would let in without too many questions. And if it's like you said, the person would have to be a poison expert, to create such a poison."

"So someone like me, but not me," Rin mused. "Why don't you draft a list of anyone fitting that description while I work on cracking the poison?"

They went their separate ways. Kakashi spent the last of his day off drafting that list, but had to table it when he was drafted for a sudden mission. Since being placed back on active roster, Kakashi worked in between his shifts, even taking advantage of having access to the Hokage's archives to dig through the database. Itachi and Shisui noticed that Kakashi was working on something and inquired about it, but Kakashi merely responded that he would tell them once it was confirmed.

Two more days in the lab and Rin left it, heading up to the Hokage Tower to request permission to leave the village. The Third gave her permission after Rin vaguely told him that she was missing an herb to complete the antidote she was working on.

Five days later, Rin returned to Konoha, heading immediately towards her lab. Rin was almost certain she had cracked the components of the poison. There was only one foreign plant, while the rest of the mixture were things commonly found in Konoha or the Land of Fire. And one of these foreign plants was in her basket, right now.

Ten failed batches later, Rin finally got a complete match on her eleventh batch. The mysterious plant was _Atropa Belladonna, _only found in one particular part of Kusa.

But how would that help narrow down their search? Kusa was a territory they often crossed to get their destinations and the plant could have been retrieved at any time. If the person was a typical medic like her, they would have picked up any rare plant the moment they saw one.

But who would do such a thing? Someone with a grudge against the Fourth? Someone who always wanted to usurp his position?

Rin recalled Minato sensei always having rifts with the Elders and Danzo. The Elders mostly because of their different ways of thinking, due to the generational gap between them. As for Danzo, he hated Minato for dissolving his Foundation, but never showed any physical resentment. Just a constant thorn in the side as Danzo never supported any of Minato's ideas.

Danzo? From the history books, Rin never recalled any mention of Danzo with any knowledge on poison. He had shown the skillsets of an average shinobi, with a greater speciality in wind jutsu.

An accomplice? Someone who hated Minato as much as Danzo did?

Rin met up with Kakashi later that day, in the privacy of Minato and Kushina's old home. Rin informed Kakashi of her findings, which hadn't been that helpful. Kakashi showed her the list he made, with many familiar names as most of them worked at the hospital at one point or another.

"Hypothetically, the person has a grudge against sensei," Rin began. "My first thought was Danzo, but he doesn't have any knowledge of poisons as far as I am aware, so I'm thinking he either had an accomplice or it was done by someone who hated sensei as much as Danzo did."

Rin went through the list, ticking off people's names as most of them she knew personally. "I can cross reference and double check if they were in the village at the time."

"Orochimaru?"

Kakashi shrugged. "His files noted that he is very knowledgeable in poisons."

"Wasn't he in the running for Yondaime? I heard some things about him becoming bitter and reclusive after he wasn't selected."

"He hasn't taken any missions after the war as far as I am aware. It's very likely that he was in the village at the time," Kakashi concluded. "Also, do you think there's a possibility that there's an accomplice involved, besides the poison mastermind?"

"Highly unlikely. The vein that was pierced to inject the poison is a very thin one and one that is often overlooked. Very few people are aware of its existence well enough to attempt an injection there...and to even do it perfectly in one try is even harder. I suspect the original maker is also the one who injected it."

"I see. I'll start investigating Orochimaru and let you know what I find."

Rin nodded. "I think it's time I rejoin the team, ne?"

"Welcome back."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**So disclaimer, I don't really have much medical knowledge so take all medical knowledge exhibited in my story with a grain of salt. I try to make it plausible, but at the same time, I don't really know, so for the sake of the story, I'm going to roll with this. **

**Anyways, I toyed with the idea of allowing Minato to live, I wanted him alive as much as you do, but I had to do it. However, his death does differentiate from canon, so there will be some changes in regards to that. **

**Next chapter is called The Investigation. lol how obvious. **

**Also, I can't believe we are already so far into the story, but don't worry, there is still a lot to come! I haven't had time to write, but I have been plotting the ending for a while now, so once I get the time to write again, I should finish this story soon. And I know this is kind of premature, but I have another KakaRin story brewing in the back of my mind now (and so far, the plotline seems to be working out better than this one lol) so would you guys be interested in reading that?**

**As always, let me know what you think! Thank you for reading and until next time! **

**-MM**


	17. The Investigation

**Chapter Sixteen: The Investigation**

With the irrefutable evidence that Rin laid on the table in front of the Third, the Hokage had no choice but to give Team Ro an official investigation warrant. Rin could tell that the Third was slightly disappointed, but she wasn't sure in what way. Disappointed that there was a possible insider job? Or disappointed that she decided to dig for the truth?

Either way, she didn't care. None of them cared because the very least they could do was find the truth for the Fourth.

While the council was embroiled in debate once more on whether or not to keep the Third in the Hokage position or elect a new Hokage, the seat belonging to the head of the Hatake clan was empty. But that was normal as the man had only filled the seat on two different occasions, often citing being too busy on missions to attend the more boring council meetings.

This council should have been one for Kakashi to attend, but he figured the investigation trumped being there and having his opinions constantly shot down by the Elders or Danzo. Besides, Itachi and Shisui were right outside of the council room, eavesdropping on the conversation. After the council, the two of them were to trail after Danzo, while Akemi and Momo, their cats, would follow the two Konoha elders.

On the other side of the village, Kakashi and Rin were trying to track down Orochimaru. It wasn't easy, especially since Rin wasn't familiar with his chakra signature having never met the man in person, while Kakashi's ninken didn't have a scent to follow.

After fishing information out of Jiraiya, who had returned upon hearing the death of his student, they learned Orochimaru hadn't been seen around in the village in a while. Since the Yondaime had taken the position of Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru had requested to be taken off of the active mission roster, claiming that the war took a toll on his mental health. From there, he was never placed back on the mission roster, and no one had really seen him around, save for a few glimpses here and there.

So imagine their surprise, after sneaking into the Hokage's archives once more which the security was much more lax, now the Fourth's seals were ineffective, to find that Orochimaru had taken a genin team. The formation of that genin team was particularly short, just under a year, as two of the members on the team died in an ambush during the war shortly after making it to chunin. The sole surviving student was a woman named Anko Mitarashi.

After scouring through the archives for Anko's files, they eventually found it.

"Average chunin," Kakashi commented. "Known to use jutsus taught by Orochimaru."

While Kakashi had been focused on the words written on the file, Rin was more focused on the picture of a young woman with light brown eyes and dark purple hair.

"She looks familiar. I think she was in the chunin exams when Obito and I took it the second time."

"So Orochimaru would have been at the exams, do you recall anything?"

"I don't remember," Rin admitted, flipping through the next pages of Anko's files that detailed the various missions she had completed. Most of them had been war related, then a couple after the war. The last mission completed was dated to almost four years ago.

"Why isn't she on the active mission roster? For shinobis our age, that is very unusual unless they were taken out of the village for training, but as far as we know, Orochimaru is still in the village."

"You were also taken off the roster," Kakashi pointed out.

"Yeah, but people still saw me around the village. If Anko was training in the village, then we would have seen her at some point, right? Orochimaru too."

"Orochimaru is a hard man to miss," Kakashi agreed. "Perhaps we can ask Shisui. He was in the same academy class as Anko, after all."

When they later met up with Itachi and Shisui to report their findings, Shisui didn't recall much about Anko other than the fact that she existed. That could have also been attributed to the fact that Shisui graduated early, only spending two years at the academy compared to the normal five years.

They dispersed once more, spending the next two weeks following their respective targets. By the end of the two weeks, Akemi and Momo cleared the Konoha elders from suspicion, having done nothing out of the ordinary. From their private conversations that the cats overheard, they were genuinely regretful for the loss of the Fourth. The constant rift between their views and the Fourth could merely be chalked up to generational differences.

Shisui and Itachi continued to follow Danzo, their suspicions of certain activities done by members of the Anbu were growing. The Root members, Kakashi had called it. They continued to dig deeper.

Kakashi managed to find Jiraiya at a bar, on one drunken occasion. Taking advantage of the opportunity, knowing the Sannin hardly remembered anything other than "pretty ladies" the next day, Kakashi tried to grill him on Orochimaru, directly. On numerous occasions, Jiraiya had tried to wave him off, citing that he was here to let loose and not talk about his former teammate.

Rin would never know, but Kakashi eventually sighed in defeat and henged into a woman with long, brown hair, big doe eyes, and a curvy body. That immediately caught Jiraiya's attention and the information slipped easily from his mouth. Never once did the Sannin ever wonder why a civilian woman was fishing shinobi information from him.

By the time that Kakashi left the bar and met up with Rin, he felt the bile rising in his throat. Again and again, Kakashi tried to keep his dinner down, often taking sips of water from his canteen. When Rin saw him, she noted his unusually pale complexion. A simple 'don't ask' had been enough to keep her from prying.

Thank Kami.

Kakashi would never live it down if anyone found out the stunt he had pulled, even if it was for the sake of a mission. Perhaps he should have just retreated after all and let Rin do it.

All of that just to retrieve a special kunai from Jiraiya, who had let it slip it had been the only gift he received from Orochimaru. By now, the scent would have mostly been covered with Jiraiya's, but he hoped that Pakkun's nose would be sharp enough to differentiate.

Slamming his palm to the ground, letting the black marks spread outwards, a puff of smoke appeared. Before him stood Pakkun, looking smaller than he had before. Or perhaps it was Kakashi that had been growing.

"Boss," Pakkun greeted lazily, moving to stand on his four feet. He let out a yawn, blinking a couple of times before he finally registered the two humans that stood in front of him. His eyes flickered from Kakashi to Rin, before back to Kakashi then to Rin again.

"Whoa, you two have grown so much."

The last time Kakashi had summoned him had been about a year ago, on the mission in Iwa. With Kakashi hiding behind his Anbu mask and Rin not present at the time, Pakkun didn't get a good look at that time. Not to mention the dire situation they were in.

But now seeing the five year old kid who signed the summoning contract turn into a teenager was shocking. Even more so to see the small brat now tower over his female teammate with ease.

Rin laughed at Pakkun's comment, reaching out her hands to allow Pakkun to jump on it. He walked all up the length of her arms, before resting himself on her shoulder.

"Tsk, I think I like Rin better than you," Pakkun stated.

"Maa, Pakkun. We have a mission to work on."

Kakashi held out the kunai that he retrieved from Jiraiya. "Can you figure out the scents on here?"

Pakkun took a whiff. "Jiraiya sama? And the other one...smells like dead snakes. It's very faint."

"I see. Can you seek him out? We believe Orochimaru is still somewhere around the village."

"Dead snakes, huh. Call the rest of the pack."

Kakashi agreed, summoning the other seven dogs of his pack. He squatted down onto the ground, extending his hand outward and allowed the dogs to circle around to sniff.

"I want you to find the one that smells like dead snakes," Kakashi instructed. "Don't engage. Report back to Rin if you find anything."

Rin shot him a questioning look. "I have something to do. I'll catch up with you later."

The eight dogs scattered, Kakashi leaving as well. He supposed he should return the kunai before Jiraiya became sober again…

* * *

The more that Rin dug, the more worried she had become. Records of missing children, not only from Konoha, but all around the Land of Fire had been reported for many months. The earliest incident to be reported dated back to almost a year and a half ago, but it had been chalked up to an isolated incident.

Yet in the recent months, the incidents were being reported at an alarming rate, in an increasingly large quantity. What were the odds that children went missing, two at a time? Five in a single week?

There didn't seem to be a pattern in the time intervals, except that it was occurring more frequently now. Unless...many went unreported.

The only commonality that Rin was able to find was the victims. All children under the age of twelve. Most of the orphans or had single parent civilians. No one was noted to be from a prominent clan.

Easy to miss, Rin concluded. If it hadn't been the diligence of Konoha's orphanage in doing a roll call every night, Rin suspected about 80% of these cases would go unnoticed. Who would notice a missing child, among the hundreds that became orphans in the aftermath of the war?

An investigation had been conducted a month ago to track down the missing children. The trail went cold and the case was quietly tabled.

None of the children were ever seen again, not even a body was found.

Three days ago, Kakashi's ninken reported back, having found a secret entrance hidden in one of the many corners of the Konoha library. According to them, there was a faint trace of the dead snake's smell, along with the stench of death.

They were ordered to observe the entrance, but three days of taking shifts, the dogs never saw anyone coming out of the entrance. Kakashi suggested the idea of another exit, but the dogs insisted they couldn't find another. Either the exit was too far removed from where the dead snake stayed, if he even was there at all, or it had been a long time since the dead snake used the other exit.

When another child was reported from the orphanage, Rin sent Pakkun to sniff out the area. The scent wasn't the dead snake's, Pakkun had told her, but the person who had done it definitely made contact with the dead snake recently, from the lingering traces of dead snake on his scent.

It was then that Rin decided that they needed to infiltrate the place. Whether or not Orochimaru was connected with the Fourth's death, the high possibility that he was connected with the kidnapping of children couldn't be ignored. Not when some of the children could still be alive.

Itachi and Shisui were preoccupied with clan matters that evening and couldn't join Kakashi and Rin in infiltrating the place, but told them that they would inform the Hokage of the situation.

Dressed in the Anbu uniform, the two of them agreed to meet after the library closed at ten o'clock, to avoid causing panic among the rest of the villagers. The other seven dogs were sent back, while Pakkun stayed, ready to lead the two of them towards the dead snake.

With only a sliver of moonlight spilling into the library from a nearby window, Rin could barely see anything. It had been so dark, her eyes almost missed the signal that Kakashi flashed at her, indicating for her to step back, while he opened the entrance. She did as he asked, her senses highly alert for any other chakra signatures.

There were none from the outside, but she could feel the faint pulse of multiple chakra signatures in the direction of the entrance. Their chakra networks were extremely hard to detect, even harder than an adult civilian's because they were undeveloped.

Common among children.

Upon figuring that out, Rin was itching to head in, but Kakashi was taking his time in making sure that no traps would be triggered upon release. After a thorough inspection, Kakashi was finally satisfied and pulled off a book off the highest shelf, before pulling the lever hidden behind the thick book. The bookshelf groaned, sliding to the right at an agonizing slow pace.

Both Kakashi and Rin backed away from the entrance as the movement of the bookshelf sent dust flying everywhere. Pakkun had scrunched up his nose in discomfort, clearly having taken a big whiff of the dust.

When the dust settled, a dark tunnel was revealed. Pakkun was the first to move, leaping forward to avoid the pile of dust at the entranceway. Kakashi followed, motioning for her to do the same.

It was pitch black. At first, Rin could still see the silver of Kakashi's hair, but the further they got into the tunnel, the less she could see. In the end, Rin resorted to feeling out Kakashi's chakra signature and following it after she ran face first into a wall, missing the fact that there was a turn. The only indication that either of them noticed her blunder was an amused snort from Pakkun.

Fifteen minutes since entering the tunnels, they were still navigating their way through it. No doubt designed to let anyone who didn't know the route to die in one of the many dead ends that the tunnels had to offer.

Kakashi suddenly stopped, leading to Rin almost running into his back. With a snap of his fingers, Kakashi managed to light a small fireball at the tip of his pointer finger, allowing them to see the intricate markings on the door.

"A seal," Rin whispered, running her fingers on the markings. "We need a counter seal to open it. If we try to get through by force, it will explode."

Kakashi nodded as Rin dug through her weapons pouch for a blank tag and a paintbrush. Lighting up the rest of his fingers with tiny fireballs, Kakashi angled it so the light revealed the entirety of the seal.

Definitely the work of a skilled fuinjutsu user, but nowhere near as intricate or as difficult to counter as the Uzumaki's. Still, it would take her a bit of time since she was nowhere near her sensei's level.

While Rin worked on the counter seal, Kakashi peered over her shoulder to see her work, once in a while correcting her minor mistakes. Her sigh of frustration was audible as she pulled out another blank tag and began rewriting the sequence all over again.

Three wasted tags later, Rin finally finished the counter seal and slapped it on the center of the door. Channelling a bit of chakra to the tag, Rin activated the seal, watching the markings on the door light up, before dying down.

The door slid open. Kakashi allowed the fire to fizzle out as he got down on his knees and hands and crawled through the entrance after Pakkun. Rin followed.

The room looked to be a typical laboratory, save for its unusual location. A light layer of dust coated the countertops as well as the cloth that covered some of the equipment. The beakers and test tubes were all cleaned, placed in their respective places in the shelves underneath the countertops. A lone lab coat hung on the coat rack. Outdated medical books filled the bookshelves.

Pakkun busied himself by trotting around the room, sniffing in every corner of the room. He took specific interest in one particular tile in the floor, scratching at it with his paws. Kakashi headed over to him, knelt down beside him and felt the edges of the tile.

A fake tile.

Retrieving two kunais from his holster, Kakashi used the sharp tips of it to slide it underneath the tiles. Pushing down, the force was enough to push the fake tile out of place, swinging it upward.

It was only when they descended down the stairs through the hidden entrance did the smell of death finally hit Rin's less sensitive nose. Pakkun openly grimaced at the stench, using his paw to rub uncomfortably at his nose. Kakashi fared slightly better, only because his mask helped to ease the smell quite a bit.

The last time Rin had smelled anything of this magnitude was on the battlefield, where corpses from both sides littered the field. Bravely, the three of them crossed the room, pushing open the door that was half hidden behind another bookshelf.

The room was dimly lit, the only source of light coming from the containers. The containers...which contained children floating in the unknown liquid. Wires were attached to their bodies, connecting to the edge of the container, which led a sole machine at the very end of the room.

If all of those similarities weren't enough, all of them were dead. Dead for so long that decomposition had already started, leading to some of the faces to be unrecognizable.

A low chuckle echoed throughout the silent room.

"You aren't supposed to be here." Rin could only see the silhouette outline of the man at the doorway, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was Orochimaru. Who knew that his chakra felt this...malicious?

The killing intent coming from Orochimaru's body was so strong that it paralyzed the two of them. Pakkun had poofed out of existence, unable to handle the unrelenting pressure drop in the air. Kakashi's visibly shaking hands moved to grab his sword, successfully unsheathing it. But he couldn't hold the sword steady in front of him, not with every muscle in his arm trembling.

"I suppose I can't ask the two of you to keep quiet about this, can I?" Orochimaru mused, chuckling to himself. "Of course not. Two of the Yellow Flash's students...probably has as much of a bleeding heart as he did. It's a shame that you won't join my research, Rin chan; your medical expertise is practically unrivaled."

A shiver went down her spine as she watched Orochimaru's longer than normal tongue lick his kunai.

"I will never participate in such sickening research."

Orochimaru chuckled. "And with such research, I am able to bring dead people back to life. Don't you want your sensei back? All you have to do is help me find the method to immortality."

"Immortality? That's impossible."

"As was reanimation, but you see that I made it possible. Perhaps, you'll believe me when I show you."

Whatever Orochimaru was doing, it wasn't good. Rin moved to stop him, but found her body frozen still. Damned paralysis. With all of her strength, her trembling hand moved to grab a kunai. Right as Orochimaru finished his sequence of hand seals, slamming the palm of his hand against the ground, Rin fought off the stiffness in her hand and sent the kunai straight into her thigh.

The pain was enough to break the paralysis genjutsu. Rin jumped at Kakashi, pushing her chakra into his body to dispel the genjutsu, before tackling him to the ground as a very familiar three pronged kunai sailed over their heads, embedding itself into the wall behind him.

The two students stared wide eyed at the man who looked just like the Fourth Hokage. Except for the peeling skin, almost like it was paper, and the blackness where the white of the eyes were supposed to be, the figure was a carbon copy of their teacher.

But it wasn't him.

"Rin, Kakashi," the carbon copy murmured, staring regretfully down at his two former students.

"Our sensei is dead," Kakashi hissed. "Don't play games with us." Picking himself up from the ground and dragging Rin along with him, Kakashi held his sword out in front of him, channelling lightning chakra throughout it. This time, the sword stayed steady in his grip.

"Oh, but it's very much real," Orochimaru chuckled. "Say something to convince your students that it is you, Minato kun."

Carbon copy Minato fought back, but eventually Orochimaru's orders overrode his own will and Minato found himself spilling details about Kakashi that Orochimaru wouldn't have known.

Kakashi's jaw clenched.

"Sensei," Rin whispered, taking small steps forward, towards the carbon copy. Kakashi latched onto her arm, pleading at her not to, but Rin merely shrugged his arm off.

_Follow my cue. _Rin signed behind her back as she continued forward, almost like she was in a trance. Orochimaru's sinister smirk grew larger.

"Are you convinced now?"

The tips of Rin's fingers brushed against carbon copy's hand, before her hand snaked around and weaved her fingers through Minato's hand.

"We'll get revenge for you, don't worry," Rin whispered. A flash of blue chakra emitted from Rin's hands before carbon copy Minato's hand exploded into a million pieces. Rin moved, reaching into her weapons pouch and slapped a movement restricting seal on the carbon copy's forehead. Orochimaru hissed at Rin's deception, sword extending out of his mouth to stab her when Kakashi intercepted him, deftly knocking the sword out of his mouth.

"You're my opponent," Kakashi stated through gritted teeth as he jumped to avoid the snake heads that emerged from Orochimaru's sleeve.

Using a short distance teleportation jutsu, Rin teleported both herself and carbon copy Minato to the corner. The movement restricting seals wouldn't hold long, not if Minato tried to break out of it, so Rin made quick work of emptying Minato's pockets of all of his special kunais. Rin tore the sealing formulas off of all of them, ripping them to pieces thereby rendering them useless, before she unsealed chakra binding ropes from one of her many storage scrolls and binding up the reanimated body.

Minato smiled while he watched his student work. His blown off arm was slowly repairing itself.

"You'll have to seal me away," Minato told her, while he still had control over his own body and mind. Kakashi was doing a good job at keeping Orochimaru occupied, Minato noted.

"How? I don't have any jutsu for that."

"Listen-" Minato clamped his mouth shut as he felt the familiar pull on his body's core as his mind and feelings began to shut down.

All that he could hear in his head were orders to kill the two Anbus before him.

Before Rin could finish the last knot on the rope, Minato broke out, flashing to his last functioning three pronged kunai. The first one that he had thrown after being reanimated.

Yanking the kunai out of the wall, Minato launched it at Rin. Ducking to the side, the kunai narrowly missed her, but she had exactly one second to pull out her kunai to block Minato, who had flashed to her location, picked up his kunai once more, and raised it to slash at her.

The muscles in her arms quivered under the force that Minato was using.

Even if she had gotten rid of most of his kunais, Rin recalled the marking on herself. Once placed, the marking never disappears, according to Minato's instructions in his letter.

As Rin continued to parry every one of her sensei's blows, her mind raced to recall the weaknesses he had written about in his letter. One of them had been the high amount of chakra reserves to be sustainable in battle, but Rin knew her sensei always had a larger chakra reserve. And his reanimation body didn't seem to deplete chakra at all.

_It's also possible for the person who is marked to erase my mark with a counterseal. _

A counterseal! But Rin didn't have time to figure out a counter seal to rid herself of the marking Minato placed on her long ago, not when Minato relentlessly attacked her.

Spotting one of the containers nearby, Rin allowed herself to be maneuvered until her back hit glass. As expected, Minato formed the Rasengan in hand, raising it to smash it right into her. At the last possible second, Rin ducked out of the way, letting his jutsu smash into the glass. The contents of the container exploded, sending a shower of water and glass everywhere.

Rin had been ready to counter Minato, expecting him to teleport to the seal on her body.

"Kakashi!"

But he didn't, instead teleporting himself to the seal on Kakashi's body and was able to heavily injure Kakashi's left arm, as he had been too slow to react. Blood dripped down the length of his arm, soaking the cloth and stained the metal plate of his arm guard.

Rin summoned a water jutsu, using the contents of the liquid from the container as base, launching it at Orochimaru and Minato. Taking advantage of the momentary cover, Rin jumped in to drag Kakashi away from the two of them.

Of course right as she put some semblance of distance between themselves and Orochimaru, Rin sensed the fluctuation of Minato's chakra. Pushing Kakashi behind her, her body immediately jerked on impact as she felt a kunai jammed into her ribcage. Her left hand grabbed ahold of the three pronged kunai, preventing Minato from dislodging it from her ribs as her right hand, already formed with a chakra scalpel, swung down, cleanly slicing his head off of his body.

The head began to reform instantly, but Rin didn't allow it. Channeling her chakra into Minato's torso once more, she allowed it to spread throughout until it activated Isobu's destructive chakra mix, making the entirety of his body explode. A pile of paper fluttered to the ground. Among it was a kunai with a tag attached to it. Reaching for the kunai, Rin ripped off the tag, tearing it into two.

The reforming instantly stopped. The scraps of paper stayed still.

And Orochimaru was gone.

Pocketing the broken seal, Rin made quick work of healing both her and Kakashi's injuries.

"A highly formidable opponent," Kakashi grunted. "As expected of a Sannin. We're no match for him."

Rin nodded grimly. "We need to inform the Hokage of Orochimaru's escape." Kakashi summoned Pakkun once more, ordering him to pass along the message to the Hokage. Pakkun was gone in a flash.

While they waited for Anbu reinforcements, the two of them took their time to scour through the rest of his hideout. More dead bodies were found, all of them in test tube like containers. From the notes that Orochimaru left behind, Rin concluded all of them were used for his purpose of immortality as Orochimaru studied all of the different children's structural DNA in hopes to find what made some live longer than others.

Of the hundreds of children that were here, there was one alive, but barely.

Kakashi found Anko lying on the floor, her pulse weak. There was a black mark on her neck, in the shape of three commas that pulsed on her neck, greedily sucking away all of the girl's chakra.

"We'll have to perform the Curse Sealing on her to contain it," Rin told him. "I sense the Anbu. Tell them to take her to the hospital." While Kakashi left to do as she asked, Rin continued searching. In the process, she found more dead bodies, thick lab journals that detailed all of the failures in each of his experiments, and so many tubes full of unknown substances. Rin wasn't sure she even wanted to break down the components to figure out what was there.

And finally, Rin found his collection of plants. Next to his collection was a lone pippet, still half full of a clear liquid. Unravelling one of her scrolls, Rin squeezed one drop onto the parchment, followed by one drop of the antidote she made for the poison. The liquid hissed as it mixed together, the droplet fizzling out until the paper was dry again.

It was a match.

Orochimaru murdered the Fourth Hokage.

* * *

**A/n: Hi again!**

**It's not Danzo this time, but don't worry, he will appear later on in the story. But I think Orochimaru would have enough motivation to kill Minato; he did want the Fourth Hokage seat after all. And he got to test the very first modeling of the reanimation jutsu. **

**And well, this concludes the Kyuubi attack/Fourth Hokage death arc. The arc that everyone has been waiting for will be coming up very soon, but I think the next chapter is one of my favorites. You'll see why, soon. :) **

**The next chapters is called A Fragile Boy.**

**Thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	18. A Fragile Boy

**Chapter Seventeen: A Fragile Boy **

No one spoke of Orochimaru's defection publicly. Through the Anbu grapevine, Team Ro eventually learned that the Third had confronted Orochimaru after he traded blows with Kakashi and Rin. The bold few dared to voice that the Third was too soft on his student and should have stopped his student a long time ago. Should have killed Orochimaru and not let him escape the village.

They weren't wrong, but Rin knew they never been in that position either. How would have sensei reacted to fighting the masked man, if he knew it was Obito? Would sensei have the heart to kill him?

Since then, the kidnappings stopped. The real cause of Minato's death remained under wraps, as the Hokage didn't want to open up old wounds once more. Kakashi and Rin could finally rest easy after uncovering the truth, even if Orochimaru was out there somewhere. They vowed to train harder, so that the next time, they would be prepared to take on Orochimaru.

When all of the jonins received a newly issued bingo book, everyone was reminded of the Orochimaru incident. It was hard not to, when he was listed in the missing nins section of the book, under an S ranked classification. The section of the list of jutsus that he could perform took up a good chunk of the page, so much that it continued onto the back.

_Reanimation jutsu..._that reminded her that she needed to work on a counter jutsu to his forbidden technique.

For the next two years, the complete Team Ro went back to their normal duties, taking on S ranked missions again, much to Fugaku's disapproval. Everytime Itachi geared up for a mission, Fugaku would rant about how much time he was spending away from the village and consequently, away from his duties as clan heir. If being clan heir meant that Itachi had to concede to whatever ridiculous notion to rebel against Konoha, then Itachi wouldn't.

No, he would much rather get away from the clan.

The only reason why Itachi even bothered to return home in the evenings, on the days that he was in the village as he knew Kakashi wouldn't question it if he wanted to stay over, was his younger brother, Sasuke. The only person to keep Itachi sane from the mounting pressures from the clan.

During one of their sparring sessions, when Rin actually landed three consecutive hits on Itachi, it became clear that something was distracting him. She called the spar off.

"What's eating at you?" Rin plopped down next to Itachi, who began to polish his weapons just to keep his hands busy. Shisui and Kakashi both stopped their own spar under the guise that they needed a break too, but really they were both concerned about Itachi as well. Only Shisui had an inkling of what was bothering Itachi.

"Fugaku san is on your back again?" Shisui ventured to guess.

"Ah." Now fifteen year old Itachi Uchiha was currently in his prime for Fugaku to groom to become the next clan head. At the ripe age of eighteen, Itachi was expected to marry another Uchiha girl, a very distant, but a talented kunoichi and take over as head of the clan.

First, it had been Itachi's refusal to become the Anbu captain of his own unit, as Danzo offered when he had been thirteen. That caused a rift between his father and him, Fugaku believing that Itachi had been stupid to pass up an opportunity for promotion. But Itachi was adamant in staying on Team Ro, having grown attached to all three members and accustomed to working with them.

Second, it had been the amount of time that his missions took up. Itachi ended up being away more often than not. Fugaku hated that Itachi was rarely home for more than an hour at a time and when he was, Itachi took Sasuke out to avoid him or pretended to be asleep. There was no time for Fugaku to train Itachi to become the clan head.

Third, his missions and training regime often conflicted with clan meetings. In the early days of their Anbu careers, Itachi made an effort to go to the meetings, but as he stopped going, Shisui figured there was no point in going as well. Both of them consistently cited missions to explain their absence, even if there wasn't a mission. It wasn't like Rin or Kakashi would ever rat them out anyways.

Their lack of presence at the Uchiha meetings put a damper on their plans. There were whispers, passing along the idea of a coup, the Uchiha were divided on the matter. Half of them wanted to stay out of trouble, to just live peacefully. After all, the snide remarks and contempt looks had slowly waned over time, until there were hardly any left. The only ones that showed blatant contempt towards them was the old geezer Danzo. Within the other half that were open to the idea, a quarter of them were either civilians or retired shinobis, so they wouldn't be able to contribute manpower. Most of the remaining quarter wished to have the two strongest Uchihas on their side, including Fugaku.

Yet their consistent absences seemed to be a sign to the Uchihas that they wanted no part of the coup. Less than ten Uchihas wanted to continue to carry out the coup, regardless of whether or not Itachi and Shisui were on their side, but the more rational Uchihas talked them out of it. Just the two of them alone could stop the ten of them if they wished. Easily.

Fourth, none of the Uchihas were fond of the fact that Itachi spent more time with outsiders than within their own clan. Shisui Uchiha, they could tolerate as he was a formidable shinobi, but Rin Nohara and Kakashi Hatake? One who possessed the eye of one of their own and the other not from a prominent clan? The more stubborn Uchihas always liked to conveniently forget about the time when both shinobis saved their clan heir's life.

Fifth, Itachi had blatantly rejected marriage between himself and Satsuki Uchiha. Rather than spending time with his to be bride, Itachi seemed to care more about spending time with a black sheep of the Uchiha clan, a girl born from a non-Uchiha parent: Izumi Uchiha. They were more often than not seen together at the dango shop or on the training field. An average chunin, the Uchihas tried to dismiss, no longer able to hold the fact she didn't have the Sharingan over her head. No when she unlocked it during the Kyuubi attack and seemed to be proficient at using it. Of course, that was all due to the clan heir's help, the stubborn Uchihas would argue.

After Itachi unloaded all of his frustrations onto his three teammates, he instantly felt better, even if nothing had changed.

"And what did Izumi say of the latest meeting?" Shisui inquired.

"Same old. They want to plan a coup, but not enough Uchihas are standing with them. Mostly the older and more stubborn shinobis are the ones who want to. The younger generation prefers to stay out of conflict."

"And your father's opinion?"

"He will follow the clan's wishes," Itachi revealed. "But I believe that his heart is telling him to avoid conflict."

"Perhaps you can convince your father to stop this madness."

"Convince him?" Itachi repeated. "When he is not pleased with me?"

"Ah right. You stood up a meeting with Satsuki," Shisui said. "I heard she wasn't happy at all. What's wrong with her anyways?"

Itachi frowned. "...she told me that eating dango was childish."

The three of them burst out laughing, knowing that was the closest that Itachi would ever get to a pouting face. And for his reason to be something as simple as that...was highly amusing, especially when they had been expecting a serious answer, something along the lines of not wanting to be stuck in an arranged marriage. Rin even secretly hoped that Itachi would admit he already liked someone else, namely Izumi, as she had seen the two together more often lately.

"Are you sure it's not because you like Izumi?" Rin teased. Itachi's cheeks turned slightly red, ducking his face so that Rin couldn't see it.

"We simply discuss clan matters, that's all."

No one believed him.

* * *

Itachi and Shisui supposed that they couldn't avoid clan meetings forever. Not when Fugaku went to the Hokage and specifically requested that they were free for tonight's meeting. Thus, only Kakashi and Rin were sent on the mission, while Itachi and Shisui were forced to stay in the village.

Reluctantly, the two of them showed up to the clan meeting, a couple minutes later, pulling a page of Kakashi's book. However in their case, no one asked for an explanation because no one cared. They were more concerned with the fact that the two of them finally showed up.

As clan heir, Itachi needed to sit next to Fugaku at the front, even if he wanted to sit down below with Shisui and Izumi. Shisui didn't bother to take any of the seats offered to him by the other clansman; instead, he made his way towards the many empty seats around Izumi, who was sitting in the back corner. He greeted her, making sure that the other clansmen were paying attention as he did.

A warning to them to not mess with her.

They wisely didn't say anything regarding the matter.

The agenda started off with the normal things, regarding minor issues concerning the clan. At the very end, the issue of a rebellion came back up, having tabled the discussion week after week.

It was still the same old argument. The discontent at being suspected for the nine tailed attack. Some felt that they had drawn the short end of the stick and allowed the village to kick them into the corner like they were obedient rats. A rebellion would remind Konoha once more that the Uchiha clan weren't to be messed around with and reclaim some of their authority in the village.

The Uchiha's voice on the council had practically been reduced to nothing, not with Danzo and the Elders contradicting everything they said. More often than not, the Third would side with them, with no apparent reason.

"And there were people who fought for us when we were assigned to another plot of land after the attack," Itachi mentioned, practically countering all of their points. "If the village was against us, then they would have stuck us in the original plot of land and stripped our powers as the Konoha Police Force as they originally intended."

"But they still had the notion of doing it," someone argued.

"That was Danzo's doing. Only he seems to have a problem with the Uchiha clan, not Konoha as a whole. Even the Hyuga stood up for us during that council meeting."

The Hyuga haven't since then, but that was besides the point. The Hyuga stepped in when it was necessary, as did the other clan heads.

"But-!"

"Regardless," Itachi cut him off with a sharp look. "I will not stand by the rebellion. As citizens and shinobis of Konoha, we protect the village, not attack it. If there are any additional rational grievances, you can take it up to me and I will inform the Hokage. Good night."

And just like that Itachi managed to shut down the debate in less than twenty minutes, when the discussion of the matter had taken at least an hour in the previous council meetings. On the way out of the council room, the dissenters watched as Itachi met up with Shisui and Izumi, the former giving the clan heir a fist bump for a work well done. Izumi was smiling, happiness and relief shining in her eyes.

Outside, Izumi stretched her arms. "Thank Kami. That was the fastest council meeting. I didn't fall asleep this time."

Itachi resisted the urge to laugh.

The two of them walked Izumi to her house, bidding her a goodnight. When Izumi entered her house and was finally out of earshot, Shisui turned to Itachi, the light hearted mood set by the younger Uchiha quickly disappearing, replaced with a somber mood.

"How long will the peace last?"

Itachi didn't have an answer for him. "We'll make it last."

"I see." The two of them went their separate ways, minds plagued with the worst case scenarios and all of the potential aftermaths of a coup against the village.

_Make peace last_...Shisui hoped he would be able to achieve that.

* * *

The three year old boy sat on a branch of a tree near the Academy, swinging his legs in the air. He knew the crabby, old lady would scold him when he came home with various scratches on his body and leaves stuck in his blonde hair and clothes, but he didn't care. Being in the trees kept him away from the bullies.

The mean people in Konoha markets often hurled insults his way and kicked him out of their shops. His three year old mind was unable to comprehend what they were saying to him, but it couldn't have been good. All he knew was yelling meant he should leave. So he left.

The Academy students spotted him using pebbles to test out his aim. They had taken to tell him all sorts of things, the most popular being that he would never become a shinobi. The boy had taken it as a challenge and vowed to become the best shinobi that he could be. Yet when he went back to his caretaker that day and told her all about his dream, the old woman simply told him it wasn't going to happen.

That disheartened him once more.

The old lady was mean to him too, but at least she didn't kick him out of the house. And she always fed him, even if she forced him to eat the icky vegetables.

So the boy had taken to sitting on the branches, after many failed attempts at climbing trees, where no one could reach them. If the other kids couldn't reach him, they couldn't hurt him physically. On the rare occasion when he was spotted, the most they could do was yell words that he didn't understand.

From his view, he could see the students practicing throwing with real weapons. He wished that he had some real weapons of his own so he could start his own target practice. However, with no money and no adult shinobis in his life, the boy simply settled for throwing rocks.

Each day, the rocks were thrown further and further until one day, the boy accidentally clocked one of the older students on the back of his head with one of the rocks. When the brown haired kid started sputtering and shouting words that the boy had never heard before, he knew he was in trouble.

The boy scrambled out of the tree, carefully scaling down the tree before preparing to run. Only to be halted by a larger shadow looming over him and a hand grabbing the back of his shirt. The hand shoved his tiny body forward, sending him sprawling face first into the ground.

The boy coughed, rubbing the dirt out of his eyes as he slowly picked himself up and turned to face the bullies.

The brown haired kid that he had hit with the pebble was the one closest to him, with two more kids, slightly shorter than the brown haired kid, flanking him on both sides. The brown haired kid had been the one to laugh the loudest at his demise.

"How are you going to pay for hitting me on the head, kid?" As he spoke, the brown haired kid cracked his knuckles in an effort to look more menacing. The three year old boy crawled backwards, fear evident in his blue eyes.

In that instance, he wished nothing more than to disappear.

"I'm sorry. It was an accident." His words were slightly slurred, stumbling over the pronunciation, but it got his point across. At least he hoped.

The brown haired kid still continued to advance on him as the smaller boy kept backing away. "An accident, you say? I don't think so." The small boy saw a fist coming his way, instinctively raising his arms to block the blow. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see it coming.

But he never felt the exploding pain in his arms. In fact, nothing even touched him. Hesitantly, the boy cracked an eye open to see the brown haired kid was relatively far away from him now.

"...so you find delight in picking on little kids? That's what cowards do," the new voice was saying. A woman's voice. The boy opened his eyes fully to find himself staring at the backside of a woman with long, brown hair, who had stood in front of him to block the advances of the bullies.

"But he-" the brown haired kid protested, but the woman was having none of it.

"I don't care what he did. That's no excuse to attack a kid less than half of your age. Now scram and if I ever see you picking on him again, you'll face dire consequences."

Huffing out of anger, the brown haired kid kicked a stray pebble on the ground before motioning his lackeys to leave. The trio stomped away.

Once the woman was satisfied that they were gone, she turned towards the boy, squatting down on the ground to meet him at eye level. The boy found himself staring at a pretty set of brown eyes and a soft smile.

No one ever smiled at him like that, not even the mean old lady that he lived with.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" the woman asked.

The boy was at a loss for words. No one had ever asked him that question. Without waiting for a response, the woman gently reached for his arm. The boy watched in awe as green chakra coated her hand. It felt so soothing, so gentle and suddenly, the pain from the scratches were gone. It was like it was never there in the first place.

"My name is Rin," the woman told him kindly. "What's your name?"

No one had ever asked him his name, so the boy rushed at the chance - his first chance - to properly introduce himself.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!"

_Just like Kushina, _Rin mused as she extended a hand to help Naruto off of the ground. The boy happily took it, wrapping his small hand around her fingers. He held on tightly, having no intention of letting go of the hand of the only person who had been remotely nice to him, save for the Old Man Hokage.

And Rin had no intention of telling him to let go either.

Along the way to her apartment, where Rin had promised she would make him food, Naruto pestered her with a million questions. Rin answered each and every one of them patiently: yes, she was a shinobi, yes, she knew how to throw a kunai, no, she wouldn't lend him a kunai to practice with, you need to start with wooden ones, yes, she lived alone, even if a certain someone showed up at her place more often than not, and so on. While answering all of the curious boy's questions, gently correcting his pronunciation at times, her observant eyes were on the villagers.

Rin didn't miss a single dirty look that they tossed at the boy, only averting their gaze when her eyes met theirs. With a reputation that preceded her, it was understandable that none of the civilians wanted to offend the kunoichi. She was especially disappointed to see that some of the owners of her favorite shops exuding the same attitude towards Naruto.

She made a mental note to never visit any of those shops again.

Rin regretted not checking up on the boy much earlier, now knowing the extent of their villager's discontent with Naruto. Under the Third's orders, no one was to talk about the Kyuubi attack or who the new jinchuuriki was. However, someone leaked the word out that the blonde boy was the new jailor of the Kyuubi.

Maybe she was naive, but she didn't think it would have been that bad. Perhaps she had it well, when none of the older generation scorned her for being the daughter of a missing nin.

"Nee chan, why are you being nice to me?" Such a loaded question asked in such an innocent voice. "I mean, everyone else is mean to me. Are you going to be mean to me too?"

If Kushina was still alive, she would most definitely threaten to skin everyone who looked at her son the wrong way. Rin was considerably less violent than her, but still felt obligated to do something about it. But how? Clearly seeing her with Naruto didn't make the villager's respect for her extend to him.

"Just ignore them," Rin told him, tugging him along, moving faster to her apartment. At her apartment, at least he will be away from the glaring looks from the villagers. Naruto protested at her change of pace, struggling to keep up with her pace. Reaching down, Rin lifted Naruto her shoulders, allowing him to sit there as she took towards the rooftops.

Naruto wrapped his tiny arms around her forehead, laughing in glee at the exhilaration of flying through the air. Along the way, Rin spotted a couple of Anbu, tipped her head in greeting before continuing on her way.

Finally, she landed in front of her apartment, inserting her key into the door. Twisting the door open, she entered, kicking off her shinobi sandals and flicking the light on. Squatting down onto the floor, Rin let Naruto scamper off of her, ready to explore her apartment. She didn't even bother chasing after him to get him to take his sandals off.

The first thing that she did was open the kitchen window, like she always did. Just in case he wanted to stop by, which he almost always did.

Besides, Rin really wanted him to meet Naruto too.

While she cooked, she kept tabs on Naruto by tracking him by his chakra signature. It was barely there, being only three years old, but the Kyuubi's chakra was very overbearing, making it hard to miss.

As if right on cue, Kakashi slid into her apartment through the open window right as she finished making dinner. Like he always did, he took off his shinobi sandals, padding his way across her apartment to set it neatly next to hers. Then, Kakashi removed the Hound mask, stuffing it in his weapons pouch, followed by the arm guards and his sword holder. Both of those items were set near his sandals.

A childish laugh could be heard through her apartment.

Kakashi shot her a questioning look. "You have a secret kid?"

Rin laughed at his ridiculous accusation. How could she have hid a secret kid if he saw her practically every day? Poking in her head in the hallway, Rin waved to catch Naruto's attention and waved at him to come into the kitchen. He bounded towards her, running right into her arms.

She caught him, setting him on one of the chairs around the table. Kakashi mutely stared at the mini me of his sensei, his heart constricting at the thought of how much the kid had grown since he last saw him as a baby.

_Kushina's personality, _she mouthed to him.

"Nee san, who's the old man?" Naruto asked, pointing his tiny finger at Kakashi.

"Who are you calling old man, gaki?" Kakashi huffed in response, but judging from his slight eye roll and definitely an amused smile under his mask, Rin knew that was just his way of dealing with kids.

After all, Kushina did call him an "emotionally stunted kid, so I wouldn't expect you to know how to raise a kid," in her final letter to Kakashi.

"That's Kakashi," Rin told him. "If you want to learn any cool jutsus from him, you should probably stop calling him an old man."

That had suddenly done the trick for Naruto to start addressing him as Kakashi nii san and start his barrage of questions of what cool jutsus Kakashi knew. Naruto's eyes were wide as saucers as Kakashi casually mentioned that he knew over six hundred jutsus.

"Can you teach me, nii san? Please? Please? Please?"

Rin took the opportunity to shove a bowl of rice and veggies under Naruto's nose, much to his dismay. "You can't become a ninja if you're a picky eater."

"Really?" Naruto was doubtful.

Rin motioned for Kakashi to start eating and he happily obliged, angling his face away from them so Naruto couldn't see his face. She had seen his face on numerous occasions already, the first time being when he needed medical treatment back when they were still on the same genin team. Gradually after they became a team in the Anbu, Kakashi figured there was no point in hiding his face anymore. Not that she understood why he ever did to begin with.

"See," Rin said, pointing at Kakashi. "He's a super strong ninja and he's eating everything."

As if on cue, Kakashi slammed his empty bowl back down on the table, mask already in place. Naruto watched him with wide eyes and began to dig into his own bowl.

Rin chuckled to herself; everything was so easy when kids were naive.

Kakashi stayed a bit longer before mouthing the words "memorial stone" to her and taking his leave. Naruto had been sad to see him go, but Kakashi merely ruffled his hair and told him they would meet again. That had been enough to put him in good spirits as she spent the rest of the night teaching Naruto how to write basic kanji.

Kami, the kid couldn't sit still if his life depended on it, but Rin wouldn't have it any other way. Looks like sensei and personality like Kushina nee? He was a combination of both of their legacies.

During the entire evening, Naruto bugged her to do target practice instead of writing, but Rin insisted that writing was just as important. Any mention of doing this to become a great shinobi immediately got Naruto's attention and he tackled writing kanji with a greater intensity than before.

After all, how was she supposed to teach him fuinjutsu if his handwriting turned out atrocious? That also depended on his ability to sit still to learn the intricacies of fuinjutsu…

Naruto looked visibly disappointed when Rin told him it was time to go back. It was already much later than she would have liked to keep him out, but she had conceded to let him stay a bit longer every time he asked.

"Nope," Rin interjected before Naruto could open his mouth to plead with her. "You need to sleep if you want to grow up to be strong."

Naruto nodded in defeat, tugging her hand as he led her back to his house. For the first time, Rin met his caretaker, an older woman who shot Naruto a stern look before shooing him inside the house.

"Sorry if the brat was bothering you," his caretaker told her. "That gaki has no manners at all."

Rin bit her lip, preventing herself from saying that Naruto had no manners because she didn't teach him any. Still, she was still willing to take him in while the rest of the villagers scorned him, even if she was a bit crass with her words.

"Oh he's no problem," Rin told her. "Would you mind if I came by to visit him occasionally?"

The caretaker waved off her request. "Do what you want. The gaki is rarely here during the day anyways."

Then the door slammed into her face. Well then.

She retreated back to her own apartment, where Kakashi had already returned, sitting on the couch and pouring through one of Kushina's many books on fuinjutsu. He snapped the book shut when he heard her entering the house.

"Reading in the dark isn't good for your eyes, you know," Rin told him as she flicked on the light to the living room.

"Didn't want you to go broke from all the electricity I use."

Rin snorted at his stupid excuse.

"If you were that concerned, you can split my bills with me."

"If it was actually an issue, why don't you just move in with me." He said it so casually, like it was a completely normal thing to ask a girl to move in, that Rin would have missed it if she hadn't been listening.

"Why do I have to move in with you? Why don't you move in with me?" Perfect, deflecting his suggestion with a question to find out if he was joking or not.

"Well my place is equipped to house the dogs if the ninken want to stay with me."

"Well my place is more child proof if Naruto ever wants to come over."

"It hardly is. You don't even have a booster seat."

"My place is bigger." Barely, it was a few centimeters of difference, but that still counted.

"You're just arguing for no reason."

That, as Kakashi would come to learn, was something to never say to a woman as Rin promptly hurled the closest thing to her, a medical textbook, in his direction. Kakashi had the foresight to poof out of existence, seeking safety in his cold, lonely apartment. It was only then did he finally remember why he went back, wanting to discuss Naruto with Rin. Oh well.

Meanwhile, Rin was huffing at her own apartment, plopping down in the spot that he had vacated moments before.

The nerve of the man.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again. :)**

**I'm updating early this week, so you'll get two chapters instead of one this week! It's a combination of me being excited to share this particular chapter with you all (well the second half since the first part is just doom and gloom), plus I got some writing done this weekend. I hope you enjoyed this little special moment. **

**I know some of you are huge advocates for Rin or Kakashi adopting Naruto, but I don't see that happening, not while they are both in the Anbu and dealing with their own problems. Doesn't mean they can't be around tho :) **

**Next chapter will be called Emotionally Stunted which will feature our favorite emotionally stunted ninja :P **

**Thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	19. Emotionally Stunted

**Chapter Eighteen: Emotionally Stunted **

To everyone else, watching Kakashi and Rin sort out their problems was amusing, almost comedic. Behind their backs, Kurenai, Izumi, Asuma, and Gai had started a running bet at who would cave first. Itachi and Shisui wisely didn't participate, citing that they weren't going to pick between their teammates.

Naturally, Kurenai and Izumi thought Kakashi would cave first, while Asuma claimed that Kakashi was too emotionally stunted to even notice what he did wrong. Gai merely proclaimed that Kakashi's flames of youth would never die out and would approach the situation with his usual apathy, meaning it would ignore the situation until it went away.

"_The nerve of the man," Rin had ranted to Izumi and Kurenai earlier that day. Coincidentally, the two of them had been in the dango shop at the same time. Rin had introduced them before plopping down in the seat across them. _

"_What did he do now?" Izumi questioned. Though Kurenai wasn't one hundred percent sure which "he" Izumi was talking about, there really was only one person that came to mind. _

"_He asked me to move in with him." To which Kurenai almost choked on the piece of dango she was chewing. _

"_We're talking about Hatake, right?" Kurenai confirmed. Rin nodded. _

"_See, I told you. I knew you two always had a thing for each other. I mean, it's super obvious that he's always staring at you when you're not looking." _

"_For the last time Izumi, I don't have a thing with Kakashi," Rin insisted. _

"_You do spend a lot of time together," Izumi pointed out. Kurenai nodded in agreement. _

"_Yeah, training. Or figuring out new jutsus. Or completing a mission. Or paying our respects to sensei and Kushina nee. If spending a lot of time together is all the requirements needed, then I must have a thing with Itachi and Shisui as well." _

_Izumi scrunched her nose at that idea. _

"_Hai, hai, I know Itachi kun is yours," Rin teased. Izumi's face immediately flushed red. _

"_He's not...mine." _

"_Yet," Rin stressed. "The poor boy even asked me for gift ideas for your birthday. Don't tell him I told you though." _

"_Really?" _

"_Really," Rin confirmed. "And you Kurenai, when are you getting together with Asuma?" This time, Kurenai actually choked on her dango, sending her into a coughing fit. _

_Rin succeeded in turning the conversation away from her as a bright faced Kurenai started sharing details about her relationship with the Hokage's son. They weren't "official" yet, but there was an understanding that they weren't going to see anyone else. Kurenai proceeded to tell them of an instance when Asuma had gotten insanely jealous when he found her talking to another shinobi boy their age._

_Being the youngest of the three, Izumi gushed at how romantic their relationship was, especially after Kurenai mentioned that Asuma always insisted walking her home after every mission, even if it was the middle of the day. _

_Somewhere in the conversation, Izumi finally admitted that she did like Itachi, but voiced her concerns that he didn't like her back. "Maybe he's just being polite." _

"_Being polite doesn't entail sitting at a dango shop with a clan member for hours," Rin argued. "Or paying for said dango." _

_In the end, the conversation turned back onto Rin. And her supposed problem with Kakashi. _

"_Why are you angry about him asking you to move in with him? Do you not want to?" Kurenai questioned. _

"_It's not that I'm opposed to moving in with him," Rin said in exasperation. "The problem is that we're not even dating, so why the hell would I move in with him?" _

"_You're not?" Izumi. _

"_I mean, everyone in our age groups seems to think you two are together," Kurenai added in Izumi's defense. _

"_Well, I'll admit that I had a crush on him when we were on a genin team together, but that was just a childish crush. I'm not sure how I feel about him now… I mean, we have gotten a lot closer after sensei died, but that could be because we are all that each other has left. So I'm not even sure if what I feel is that kind of...love." _

"_Even if it's just familial affection, you can still move in. Families live together," Kurenai told her. _

_Rin frowned. "That's too complicated. What if Kakashi gets a girlfriend? I don't want to...intrude on their private life." _

_Kurenai and Izumi exchanged knowing glances. At the mention of Kakashi having a girlfriend, Rin's face scrunched up in disgust, even if the girl herself didn't notice it. There was no question about it. _

_Rin was in love with Kakashi. _

_Familial affection? Definitely not. _

Perhaps the most comedic thing of all was the impeccable teamwork between Rin and Kakashi even if they were at odds. All Kakashi needed to do was shoot a look at Rin and instantly, Rin would understand exactly what he wanted her to do. She followed his lead seamlessly and between the two of them, they took care of the ambush. Itachi and Shisui didn't even need to step in.

Even they hadn't reached that level of understanding, still relying on the brief Anbu hand signs to know what Kakashi wanted them to do.

The two of them exchanged amused snickers behind Kakashi and Rin's back. Rather, Shisui snickered while Itachi covered his chuckle with the palm of his hand.

After all of that was said and done, the two of them went back to ignoring each other, like they were new teammates thrown together for this mission.

Naturally as concerned teammates and friends, the Uchiha cousins approached the two of them on the subject. Rin pointed at Kakashi, insisting that it was his fault, while Kakashi raised his hands in the universal way that said "I'm innocent."

The two wouldn't find out exactly who was at fault until Izumi told them the story, to which Shisui claimed her account could very well be biased. Izumi vehemently defended her friend, claiming that Kakashi was just too insensitive to other people's feelings. Itachi wisely remained silent during the entire exchange.

"_Did Kurenai say anything to you about Rin?" Kakashi had asked Asuma, on the rare occasion that he saw him without Kurenai next to him. _

"_Meh, she said a lot of things. Women are complicated, Kakashi. Just agree with them on everything and you'll be fine."_

_Well Asuma's suggestion wasn't that helpful. Was he suggesting Kakashi agree to move into Rin's apartment instead? _

The cherry on top of the entire situation, if the others knew about it, was that Kakashi still showed up at Rin's apartment in the evenings, on the days when they were both in the village. And Rin would let him stay, still feeding him dinner then working on perfecting sensei's jutsus and finding a counter seal to Orochimaru's reanimation jutsu.

Normal people, when they had a conflict with someone, would either approach the other person about it or actively avoid the other person. Yet Rin and Kakashi acted as if everything was completely normal, still with the same coordination on missions, same level headed attitude when they sparred, and following the same routine. The only difference was that Rin had considerably less things to say to him than before.

Was that supposed to be concerning?

His emotionally stunted self figured the best way to figure out a problem was to just ask Rin herself. So he did.

"About the other day, did I say anything to offend you?"

Rin didn't even look up. "Don't worry about it."

So Kakashi took her words literally. But how could he not worry about it, when Rin was still acting like her strange self?

Two days later, as Team Ro finished giving their mission report of their latest mission to the Hokage, Itachi and Shisui were the first to leave. Kakashi stayed behind to wait for Rin, like he usually did, but this time, the Hokage called for her to stay behind.

And assigned her a C ranked mission, a request from the king of the Land of Snow, asking for her medical expertise. Naturally, Rin agreed to the mission.

"I'll go with you," Kakashi offered, like he always did.

And Rin would agree, like she always did, except this time…

"No."

"No," Kakashi echoed. "Why?"

"It's just a C ranked mission, Kakashi. I don't need you to come along with me."

The Third sincerely looked like he didn't want to get caught in the middle of their quarrel, so Rin took the mission scroll from him before leaving. Kakashi looked for an opportunity to press Rin further on her strange attitude, but Rin shot him down before he could even open his mouth.

"Don't come tonight. I need to get rest before my mission tomorrow."

And she left him to dust, to wonder exactly where and when he went wrong.

Seeing no other choice, as Rin didn't want to talk to him about it, Kakashi sought out Izumi Uchiha.

To say Izumi was thoroughly surprised to see Kakashi at a dango shop was an understatement. Not only did Izumi know that he didn't like sweets as Rin mentioned it to her once in passing, but he had been looking for her. They hardly spoke before, and the few times they did, Rin, Itachi, or Shisui would always be there to act as a buffer.

None of them were there though, as Kakashi slid in the seat across from her.

"What's wrong with Rin?"

Straight to the point. That was a good trait, Izumi supposed. At least she got to avoid the awkwardness associated with trying to make small talk with an acquaintance.

"What do you mean 'what's wrong' with her? Elaborate."

And Kakashi did. "Rin has been acting weird towards me. Ever since I suggested that she move in with me, Rin has been acting weird. At the end of that conversation, Rin even threw a book at me. I figured that it was a one time thing and that she would be fine the next day, but she's not fine.

"I still act like I normally would, but Rin doesn't talk to me as much. And when she does talk, it's always about the mission or something equally important. She's treating me like I'm an acquaintance or something.

"And then today, she received a solo mission. I offered to go with her, like I always do, and she shot me down. Rin never had a problem with me going on the mission with her."

For such a perspective man, Kakashi was surprisingly blind.

"Why did you ask her to move in with you?" Izumi needed to figure out what the hell went on in the man's mind.

"We're both away on missions more often than not and I spend so much time at her apartment anyways, so it makes sense to move in together and save money."

It was official. Kakashi Hatake was not only blind, but stupid. And this was the man who was hailed as a genius in their graduating class.

On the account that Kakashi did genuinely look worried at the prospect of his failing relationship or was it friendship? with Rin, Izumi decided she would help him out.

"You talked to Rin about it, right?"

"Of course I did. Rin told me not to worry about it, but she's still acting strange. I don't know what to do."

Kakashi looked defeated.

"I think Rin's problem with you is that you are leading her on and sending her mixed signals, whether you know it or not."

"Leading her on? Sending her mixed signals? When?"

Izumi sighed, knowing that she had a lot more explaining to do if she wanted the man to understand anything. So Izumi began with tearing down his explanation of why he wanted to move in with Rin and explained to him that he wanted to move in together for all of the wrong reasons.

"Moving in is a big step in a relationship between lovers," Izumi told him. "When she asked you why you didn't move into her apartment, she was trying to see if you were being completely serious or just said it as a joke. Since the two of you are nowhere near that stage in your relationship, I think she's a bit upset that you kept insisting."

"Not to mention the fact," Izumi continued, when she saw Kakashi opening his mouth to interrupt, raising her hand in the motion to indicate for him to stop. Kakashi wisely shut his mouth. "You do all these confusing things. You show up at her apartment to spend time with her, but then you suggest spending the time trying to figure out new jutsus. You invite her out for dinner, but then you spend the time going over the details for your next mission. You volunteer to subject yourself to boring C ranked missions, but then you tell her you only did because you were bored inside of the village. Maybe you don't understand the implications of your actions or perhaps Rin is reading too much into it, but your actions confuse her.

"I know you care about her. But what you need to do now is to figure out your own feelings before you talk to her again. If you don't love her, then you need to let her go."

"So you're saying if I don't love her, I should stop doing all of those things so Rin doesn't get anymore mixed signals?"

Izumi really wanted to call him a lost cause, but for the sake of her friend, Izumi would continue to help his emotionally stunted brain wrap itself around the concept of love.

"Not necessarily, but you should make sure that both of you are on the same page. Is it a friendly outing or is it a date? Since I know you aren't good at reading the situation, I would suggest just being straightforward with her. I think Rin will appreciate your honesty."

It had seemed like good advice at the time and would have been good advice, if Kakashi went about it normally. Izumi figured Rin would want to know that Kakashi didn't reciprocate her feelings rather than continue to be strung along. It would hurt, but Rin would get over it. And if Kakashi did happen to love her back, then all was well.

Except fucking Kakashi Hatake never went about things normally.

Except fucking Kakashi Hatake just had to make Izumi eat her advice the moment she heard what Kakashi decided to tell Rin.

Fucking Kakashi and his stupid emotionally stunted self.

* * *

Seven o'clock in the morning was the safest time. Kakashi was a man of routine, so Rin knew that he always woke up at six o'clock every morning. At 6:45, Kakashi would leave his apartment, after getting dressed and eating breakfast. At 6:50, Kakashi would stand in front of the memorial stone as the sun rose, the morning rays hitting his backside. At 7:55, Kakashi would promptly remember that Team Ro always met up at 8:00. Then he would mumble his goodbyes to Obito, taking another five minutes. And always, Kakashi would arrive at the training grounds or Hokage Tower or mission gates, depending on the day, at 8:07.

Always seven minutes late, but Team Ro had learned to get used to it.

So seven o'clock in the morning was the safest time for Rin to leave if she didn't want to run into Kakashi. Ten minutes into his visit at the memorial stone, Kakashi would always be too lost in his own thoughts to think about anything else.

As she neared the gates, shifting her backpack on her shoulders, Rin spotted two bleary eyed chunins. One was nodding off, head slipping out of his hand, but always caught himself before his head slammed against the desk. The other was staring blankly at the kanji on one of the gates, hardly even blinking.

A loud whistle, the two chunins immediately scrambled into focus, eyes darting around to find the threat. Except there were no threats and they settled back down in their seats, mumbling something under their breaths. As Rin passed them on her way out the gates, she shot them a cheery grin before taking off into the trees.

Only to stop half a kilometer out from the gates because she spotted a familiar mop of silver hair sitting in the trees. Rin flickered her chakra as she cautiously approached him, but Kakashi didn't move. From the way his backside was slumped over at her angle, Rin feared the worst.

He had been injured and had been out in the forest all night.

Pushing all thoughts of avoiding him out of her mind, Rin landed onto the same branch as him. His chest was still rising up and down; good, he was still breathing. Rin's medically trained eye roved his entire torso, noting the numerous scratches on the Anbu armor, but there were no wounds as far as she could tell.

When his eye shot open, Rin instantly knew she had been tricked. Still, she didn't make a move to leave, knowing Kakashi would just follow her. And she didn't need him following her on this mission.

"What do you want?" Leaving at this time had been a severe miscalculation on her part, maybe she should have left after Team Ro was due to meet. But of course, Kakashi knew her as well as she knew him. No doubt she had conveniently forgotten about that as she made her plan.

"We need to talk."

"About what? Can't it wait until after my mission?" Rin snapped, irritation evident in her tone.

"It's not good for you to go on a mission without a clear mind," Kakashi told her. Kakashi was right, but Rin didn't voice that thought aloud. Instead she merely shot him a look that told him to get on with it.

"Listen, I think I understand why you've been acting strange towards me." _Did he really? _Rin highly doubt it. "And I think I should just be honest with you."

"I'm sorry," Kakashi continued. Rin hated the apologetic look in his eye, hated it because she couldn't hate him for telling her no when he looked like that. "I can't return your feelings. I can't do that to Obito."

She would have accepted his honesty, even thanked him for being point blank with her, until he mentioned Obito.

"What do you mean you can't do that to Obito?"

"I can't take you away from Obito. You were always his."

Rin felt numb, his words echoing in her head. _You were always his. You were always his. You were always his. _Did she even have a choice? What right did Kakashi have to decide for her?

She turned her head away from Kakashi, so he couldn't see the first slew of tears that streamed down her face.

"I'll see you when I get back." It took an immense amount of effort to force those words out of her mouth without choking up. With a casual wave, Rin darted off into the trees, willing Kakashi to not follow her. To not notice what he had done to her.

He didn't. Instead, Kakashi stared at Rin's fleeting back, his inner feelings full of turmoil. Izumi told him that honesty would make it better and Kakashi agreed with her, yet why did his honesty make Rin look even more broken. Sound even more pained?

And if honesty was supposed to make all better, then why was his heart aching?

Why was guilt eating him inside out?

Why...why couldn't he get her tear stained face out of his mind?

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**This was a fun chapter to write since I got the opportunity to explore a different side of Kakashi than we normally see. I always figured Kakashi would be sort of clueless when it comes to relationships (like parenting - have you seen the episode where he gives Sasuke trash parenting advice? lol). I should also mention that this is pre Icha Icha Paradise so he doesn't have Jiraiya's books to guide him - hmm, not sure when he actually started reading those books tbh. If anyone knows, please let me know. **

**And well, I also figured that Kakashi would be the type of be loyal to his bro, which would be why he never made a move, but you know, maybe you have a different view. **

**Anyways, next chapter is called Land of the Snow. Finally - mission time :) I alluded to this arc way back in the beginning (I don't remember which particular chapter), but if you go back and find it, I think it will help you piece together what is about to happen in the next 2 chapters. :P **

**As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think! Until next time! **

**-MM**


	20. Land of the Snow

**Chapter Nineteen: Land of the Snow**

The standard shinobi issued cloak did little to keep the cold out. Goosebumps crawled all over her skin as a gust of wind blew aside the flaps of her cloak, the cold air hitting her bare legs. Perhaps she should have worn shinobi pants on this mission. At least she brought extra clothes, sealed away in one of her many scrolls, and among that included pants and a long sleeve shirt. And closed toe shoes...because the shinobi sandals did little to keep her toes from freezing.

Rin trudged forward, sending chakra to her feet to keep them warm as well as keep her walking on top of the snow, rather than sinking in.

Since she stepped foot within the borders of Land of Snow, there hadn't been a single soul in sight. In fact, it was eerily quiet, devoid of any sounds of human life. Just the sounds of an unrelenting snowstorm that never seemed to die down. And according to her map, the nearest point of civilization happened to be closer to their southern borders rather than the northern border where she had entered.

As she continued to trudge through the snow storm, Rin occupied herself with debating whether travelling through the Land of Wind was better or the Land of Snow. Both were equally annoying in terms of their unrelenting sand storms and snow storms, respectively, but the sand storms did eventually let up after a few days. The desert was hot under the brutal sun, but alarmingly cold during the nights. And it took a good two days to cross the desert to reach Suna.

And well, maybe she preferred the Land of Snow. At least she would reach civilization within the day as the territory was nowhere near as vast as the Land of Wind. Even if snow landed all over her hair, got stuck between her toes, and all over her clothes, at least it would melt and turn into water. Sand, on the other hand, remained stuck there, clinging onto her until she had the opportunity to take a shower to flush away all of the grainy particles.

That and, the town in the Land of Snow was surrounded by walls of ice, keeping the worst of the winds away. Rin briefly wondered if she would need to scale the icy wall to reach the village, but her question was answered as she saw a small, dome shaped entrance. Two men were stationed there, dressed in a full suit of armor.

The taller of the two noticed her presence first, pointing the sharp end of his staff at her. She stopped moving.

"State your name and business."

Rin pulled out her mission scroll from underneath her cloak, tossing it to the taller man. He caught it one handed, handing it off to his partner to unravel the scroll.

"Rin Nohara, a medic from Konoha. I am here upon the mission request."

His partner's eyes roved over the scroll, angling it so the taller man could read it as well. The two of them exchanged head nods, the partner closing the scroll once more and tossing it back to her. She caught it, tucking it into one of the pockets of her flak jacket as the taller man jerked his head sharply, indicating for her to follow him.

His partner's chakra spiked as she walked past him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the man a second away from reaching the various weapons hidden among his armor. She relaxed her own chakra, hoping to indicate to him that she wasn't going to attack. He didn't let up until she was no longer within sight.

Although the worst of gust winds didn't reach the village, layers of snow still coated the ground. Drops of snow still fluttered to the ground. Surprisingly, there were no footprints to be seen, even as Rin spotted the many homes and shops that lined up on either side of the street. All the windows were boarded shut. Through the cracks of the boarding, Rin spotted lighting. A small shadow appeared briefly, but was quickly pulled away by a much larger shadow.

A town? It seemed more like an imprisonment to her.

Still, Rin wasn't graced with much time to sightsee as the tall man demanded for her to keep up with his long strides.

Did hospitality not exist in the Land of Snow because they were paying a handsome sum for her services? Just from first impressions, Rin resolved that she would finish her mission as quickly as possible so she could leave this dreary place.

The tall man led her to the steps of a palace made of ice. The tall man began to climb the long staircase rapidly, often jerking his head back to look over his shoulder as if he expected her to fall behind. Rin rose to the challenge, always keeping two steps away from him.

First impression of the palace: prim and posh. And surprisingly cold on the inside.

Practically everything seemed to be made of ice. From the ice statues that lined up against the wall, the doors, the chandelier shaped structure that hung from the ceiling, the columns that held the entire structure up, the stairs inside of the palace, and even the throne that the King sat in.

Upon entering the room which Rin figured was the King's abode, at least three spears were pointed in her direction, five millimeters away from piercing her body. With a snap of his hand, the King called off his guards. All of them retreated to their position next to the door, allowing her entrance into the room.

The moment she crossed the threshold of the door, the heavy doors were closed behind her, the guards moving to put the heavy locks back into place.

If it was even possible, this room was even colder than the rest of the palace.

The King motioned her to come closer to him. Her feet padded quietly along the length of the red roll of carpet that ended at the steps to his throne.

Contrary to what she imagined him to look like in her mind, the King was surprisingly young. A man in his early thirties if she had to guess, with midnight dark hair and equally dark eyes. His complexion was pale, so pale that he could blend in with the ice and snow.

The scar on his right cheek tipped her off that he might have been a shinobi. The clothes that he wore solidified the notion. Loose fitting, non constricting. While the guards wore the armor over their normal clothes, the King had chosen to wear it underneath his clothing. A metal pad…

And if that didn't do it, the glint of reflection from the unsheathed sword propped against the backside of his throne caught her eye.

Yuri wasn't known for having shinobis, so it was entirely surprising to find that the leader was one himself.

Rin stopped a respectable distance away from the throne.

"My wife is ill," the King told her, his voice devoid of all emotions. "I trust that your medical prowess will be enough to save her."

With that said, the King waved her off, handing her off to one of the guards to escort her to his wife. To Rin, it seemed like he didn't even care about the wellbeing of his wife, so why bother asking her to heal her? Why bother at all?

The thing that pissed her off the most was when the guard led her down into the dungeons of the palace. To the jail holdings. To one of the cells where a dark haired beauty was lying face first onto a thin blanket that did little to prevent the cold from seeping through.

The guard unceremoniously shoved her into the jail cell before locking it behind her. His footsteps faded off into the distance. Maybe she should have been concerned that she was locked in...but she was more worried for the woman lying in front of her.

Who in the world kept an ill woman locked in a cell? His own wife, nonetheless.

Rin dropped her backpack onto the floor, unzipping it and fishing out her thick sleeping bag. Spreading it on the floor, Rin unzipped it, then began to maneuver the woman into the bag. The woman stirred lightly, eyes fluttered open before closing once more. She murmured something incomprehensible. Her skin was cold to the touch, a lot colder than Rin would have liked.

Unclasping her cloak, Rin draped it over the woman as well before heading to the corner of the cell. Unsealing her extra clothing, Rin began to change, donning the traditional jonin wear: long navy blue pants and a long sleeved shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on the sleeve. Shrugging on her flak jacket once more, Rin went back to the woman's side, lamenting the fact she didn't know any fire jutsus.

What she would give to have any of Team Ro with her right now…

She placed the back of her hand to the woman's forehead. No fever, that was good news at least.

For the next few hours, Rin managed to get the woman to take a few sips of water as well as nibble on a piece of bread. The woman continued to murmur things in her sleep, but this time Rin caught a couple of words. Most of them were in relation to complaining about how cold she was.

At one point, Rin heard the name Yuki slip from her mouth. Perhaps that was her name?

An unknown amount of time later, right as Rin was about to drift off with her back propped against the freezing wall, the woman's soft voice floated through the cell, jerking her awake once more.

"Thank you," the woman told her, moving to climb out of the sleeping bag. Rin immediately moved to her side, instructing the woman to stay in her position. It wouldn't do her any good to have her half freezing to death once again.

The woman smiled at her softly. "At least take your cloak back. I can see that you are freezing as well."

Rin did as she asked, grateful to have the warmth of the white cloak around her body once more.

"Konoha, huh?" the woman whispered softly, eyes fixated on the swirl pattern on her forehead protector. Her fingers reached to brush the engraving lightly before her hand fell back down to her side.

"You know of Konoha?"

"My Queen was once a Konoha nin," the woman answered. "She fell in love with my King."

Rin was confused. "Your Queen? Are you not the Queen?"

Sadness was visibly written all over the woman's face. "I suppose I am married to Hiroto, but I am nothing more than a captive. Nothing more than a tool."

A captive? A tool? Rin pressed for more details.

"My name is Ichika, child. I hail from the Land of Ice."

"Didn't the Land of Ice perish a long time ago?"

Ichika nodded grimly.

"Seventeen years ago, my village fell under attack." At this, Ichika let out a soft sigh. "Before that, the village was thriving and flourishing under my King's leadership. We had been a struggling nation before the King met the Queen, but the Queen's vast knowledge helped our village to thrive. She taught the villagers how to hunt for fish through the ice holes and proposed the idea of a greenhouse could grow our own crops.

"Even during the Great War, the Queen spoke to the neighboring, smaller nations to propose a trade treaty. The concept of trade was so foreign to us at the time, but it worked so well. Our speciality in making the most beautiful jewelry was in high demand and as a result, merchants from all over the world came to us to trade for it. Never like before, we were able to enjoy the simple commodities and even could afford some luxuries.

"Only those who had the King's bloodline were able to wield their powers to make the jewelry. Still, the King was a kind man and shared his wealth with the entire village.

"One of their trading partners was the Land of Snow. Perhaps they were jealous of our prosperity, but they wanted the power for themselves. Hiroto's father, the King of the Land of Snow at the time, invaded the village, threatening my King to give up his children in exchange for the safety of the village. My King didn't want to give up his children, his son was only two and his daughter was newly born, but he came to a compromise. He would agree to a marriage between Hiroto and his daughter when she came of age. That way, the daughter would learn to wield her powers before she was married.

"However as the Princess grew older, my King grew more attached to her. The entire village was attached to her. The Queen couldn't bear to send her daughter to the Land of Snow, after hearing of the rumors of how poorly they treated their own citizens. So the King and Queen began to devise a plan to send her away to safety.

"To my understanding, there was an insider who leaked the information to the Land of Snow. To prevent their plan from succeeding, the Land of Snow devised a plot to attack the village. The village was full of civilians. Few knew shinobi arts and the ones that did were no match for the Land of Snow. Only the Queen could stand her ground against them. The King's powers had only ever been used to make jewelry or shape the architecture, but never for combat.

"They burned the village to the ground and killed everyone. They took a few captives, the ones who could wield the power of ice, but most of the captives have already died. In fact, I am the only captive who is still alive. The King and Queen's heads were placed on a spike at the ruins of what once was their home...I don't know if the Princess survived or not. Or the Prince."

"So the palace…" Rin began. "You built it?"

Ichika nodded. "To sustain this palace and the walls that surround the village puts a great strain on my body. All of the captives used to chip in and share the burden, but as they died from the pressure and living conditions, all of the burden has shifted to me. My bloodline isn't as strong as the King's so my powers have slowly waned over the years. In fact, I don't think my body can hold out much longer."

"How do you have enough chakra to sustain this for so long?"

"Hiroto would order his guards to channel their chakra into my body, but I think the process of doing that has burned some of my chakra networks. Recently, Hiroto has gotten frustrated since my body is rejecting all foreign chakra. As soon as my chakra runs out, this palace will fall."

"I think that's why he sent for you," Ichika added. "Perhaps he thinks you are a miracle worker, but for my sake, please allow me to die. I wish to serve him no longer. I suppose my only regret is not being able to die in my homeland."

Rin's heart felt for her and she silently vowed that she would take her body away from here if it was possible. However, Hiroto wouldn't let her go peacefully, not if Ichika died.

Rin frowned. The mission had been a trap. No matter what she did, Ichika would die unless she was able to break the ice jutsu. The best that Rin could do was prolong her death, but that would be cruel to the suffering woman. Yet if she allowed Ichika to die, Hiroto wouldn't let her leave alive.

This was one of the times that Rin wished she had ninken or crows as a summoning so she could send word to the Hokage. Katsuyu's speed was too slow for the Hokage to receive it in a timely manner. It was the only way.

Biting down on the pad of her thumb, blood trickled from the wound as Rin performed the necessary hand seals to summon Katsuyu. A small version of Katsuyu appeared and Rin quickly relayed her information, instructing her to leave as soon as possible.

Katsuyu slid out of the cell, disappearing from sight.

Meanwhile, Ichika was fumbling with something underneath her shirt. Her hand latched onto the item, sliding it over her hand. Ichika extended her hand forward, palm open to reveal a necklace.

"You should have it," Ichika told her earnestly. "It's called Ice Crystal, a memento from the Land of Ice, so you'll always remember me. The King designed it for the Princess."

Rin's fingers moved instinctively to pull out her own necklace from underneath her shirt. Her stiff and cold fingers rubbed against the white crystal, running along the sharp edges. Completely identical to the crystal that Ichika held before her.

Ichika came to the same realization as her eyes registered the Ice Crystal, the original design - there was no hole that ran through the middle of the crystal as it did with hers. The original Ice Crystal...the owner…

"Princess Yuki," Ichika whispered. Her eyes took in the young girl before her and lamented at the fact she didn't notice that the medic was almost a carbon copy of the Queen. Take away the purple markings on her cheeks, the hair, the eyes, the nose, the facial structure, and just about everything was so similar to her Queen.

Ichika felt like she was looking at her Queen when she had been younger.

Rin still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact. Did Ichika call her "Princess Yuki?" Wasn't her mother a Konoha nin, then how…?

Her train of thought halted as she recalled sensei telling her about her mother's story after he caught her stealing Konoha's bingo book as a chunin.

_Your father was the ruler of the Land of Ice. _

_Yua decided to leave to join your father in the Land of Ice. _

_My Queen was once a Konoha nin. _

Her affinity with both water and wind nature chakra type...the two needed to form ice. She...was the Princess that had escaped?

A surprised gasp escaped her lips as all of the pieces began to fall together. Hiroto must have figured out her lineage and lured her here under the guise of requesting for her medical services. Rin wasn't here to heal Ichika; she was her replacement.

"My Princess, you must leave now," Ichika told her, the urge evident in her voice. "You must leave before Hiroto finds out. Don't worry about me. You must live, for the sake of our land."

Through teary eyes, Rin resolutely nodded. Ichika pressed her Ice Crystal into Rin's hands and Rin immediately put it around her neck. With one last look at the closest person to family she had, Rin began to channel chakra into her hands. With the help of her chakra, Rin used her boosted strength to pry the bars of the cell open. The bars did bend, but hardly large enough for her to climb through.

She squatted down, bending the bottom of the bar as well. Then she performed the transformation jutsu, changing her form into a cat and nimbly leapt out through the cells.

Rin stayed in her tiny form as a white cat, nimbly escaping under the numerous guards' feet. The guards shouted, yelling at each other to catch her, but Rin escaped from their grasps every time. At one point, she even scratched away a hand that came too close to her. From that point forward, the guards made a point to use the blunt end of their spears to try to knock her out.

Once she was surrounded, Rin morphed back into her original form, easily taking out three of them out of surprise. As for the rest of them, a quick genjutsu later, four more bodies crumpled to the ground, joining their unconscious comrades.

More guards met her halfway down the hallway. Without stopping, Rin charged at the group of five, grabbing the tip of the spear of the first man's. She easily snapped it in half, flinging the tip right at the man. He moved to dodge it, but that was enough for her to kick at his torso. Climbing atop of the man as he fell, Rin propelled herself to the shoulders of the second man while her hand gripped on the staff of a third's, swinging him and sending him crashing into the fourth and fifth man.

A hit at one of the many pressure points on the second man's neck knocked him. Jumping off of his shoulders as he fell, landing on the first man who was still recovering, Rin dove towards the third man, who was still slightly disoriented, and rammed a senbon into his neck as she passed.

Two more senbons and a genjutsu later, all five men were down, unmoving.

She continued running, ducking and dodging as the guards launched projectiles at her moving form. Reaching to her holster for a kunai, Rin shot it with enough accuracy and force, knocking the staff out of a guard's hand. His now free hands moved to form hand seals, a wind jutsu if Rin's senses were correct. A senbon pierced cleanly through his hand, stopping his jutsu. Another senbon to the neck and the man was down.

Constantly sparring with Shisui, who was ridiculously fast in his own right, had honed Rin's senses a lot better than she had thought. And improved her reflexes.

She flew past the next guard, jerking her elbow back to knock him back on his feet. A chakra charged kick to the chest, the man flew across the room, back hitting the wall before he slumped down, unconscious.

Ten more chakra signatures heading her way, she better move.

Ten more unconscious bodies splattered all over the floor of the palace, Rin finally reached the front door. The two guards at the door had already reached to subdue her, but she had been prepared. One hand snapping the staff into two and the other jabbed at his pressure points. The second guard earned a kick to the chest, followed by a triple layer genjutsu, knocking him unconscious.

It wasn't over yet. Rin still had a whole village to cross followed by the Land of Snow territory.

Chakra flared to her left and Rin moved, blocking the sword with a kunai. Wind chakra coated the metal of the sword. Launching a kunai at Hiroto, Hiroto was forced to move out of the way. Taking advantage of his weakened hold on his sword, Rin pushed his sword away from her, backflipping into the air and landing a good meter away from her.

Hiroto's dark eyes flickered to the unconscious forms of his guards before it landed back onto her. He made no move to approach her and even casually held his sword by his side. Like he didn't deem her to be a threat.

On the contrary, Rin gripped two kunais, holding it protectively in front of her. Her mind was whirling with escape strategies. Genjutsu and run? Could she use the snow as a source of water for her water jutsus?

"Impressive," Hiroto said. "I didn't expect you to be able to get past all fifty of my guards."

Rin blinked. Fifty? Had it really been that many?

"Like mother, like daughter I suppose. A formidable kunoichi. Strong enough to kill my father," Hiroto continued. "And what better way than to get revenge by capturing you, Princess Yuki?"

Hiroto chuckled to himself as Rin remained silent. "You won't be able to escape, so just give up!"

Faster than the eye can see, Hiroto crossed the distance between then, raising his sword to slam down on Rin. Whipping out her flute, she was able to partially coat it with chakra as his sword made contact with her flute.

_Clang!_

Rin dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way as his sword met the snow. Hiroto was still moving...how?

"Measly genjutsu trick," Hiroto huffed. "I'll show you real genjutsu!"

She had only taken two steps when she found herself engulfed in a snow storm. The gusts of wind cut into her skin, tearing her clothes.

She felt a disturbance to her chakra network and quickly dispelled it, but as soon as she did, she was caught in another genjutsu.

_Blood dripping down the length of his body. His once white hair was dyed red as his shaky fingers reached out to grab her. _

Kai.

_Two skulls on spikes. Two pairs of hollow eyes staring at her as her knees gave out in front of her. Her fist slammed against the ground._

Kai.

_Smoke. Fire. Burning flesh. Screams piercing into the air. A haunting voice crying for help. She ignored it all as she selfishly crawled her way to safety. _

Kai.

"_You didn't take care of my son," Kushina whispered. Blood dribbled down her chin. Her blood red hair was flying in all directions behind her. _

A kunai to the thigh shattered the image from her mind. A second later, Rin found herself surrounded in a barrage of images, all displaying her worst fears. Distorting her memories so that she had been the one to kill Obito. The one to kill sensei and Kushina nee.

"You cannot escape," Hiroto told her. Her eyes tried to pinpoint his voice, but his voice appeared to deflect off of the walls of the storm, obscuring his exact location. "You may try to break out of it, but it will capture you again and again. My jutsu casts genjutsu through all five senses. You cannot escape. Succumb to your fate."

Rin did, her body slumping down to the ground.

The genjutsu swallowed her whole.

* * *

_Three year old Yuki Kazikane held tightly onto her father's hand, her small hand wrapping tightly around his pointer and middle finger. Her small feet wobbled as she took every step forward, but she stood straight. _

_To walk like a lady as her mother had taught her. _

_Dressed in a flower printed yukata and her hair down in a bun, with senbon made of crystal holding her brown hair in place, the young girl was the epitome of grace and beauty. The bells dangling from the senbon chimed merrily. _

_Along the way to their destination, many of the adults stopped to coo at the younger girl. With a smile plastered onto her face, the Princess bowed at each and every one of them, at a ninety degree angle that she was taught. Even if she did not like it, the Princess allowed the adults to pinch at her cheeks. _

_A princess was to be seen not heard. _

_Her small feet padded softly across the wooden floor as her father continued to lead her to one of the rooms. To meet a special guest, her father had told her. _

_The special guests were two men, one notably older than the younger, but had similar features. The same coloring of hair and eyes, same shade of complexion. The older had wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes. There was a cold look in his eyes that didn't exist in the younger. _

_Yuki fought to prevent her body from shaking at the palpable drop in temperature. _

_Her father handed her hand off to the younger. Her hand squirmed in the younger's grasp, hating how cold his skin felt. _

_Her father knelt down before her, so he could speak to her at eye level. "This is your new family. Be good for them, alright? Practice hard so you can learn our ice jutsus, alright?" _

_Yuki nodded. _

_A princess didn't disobey. _

_Seven year old Yuki Kazikane received a whack to the back of her head from Hiroto as her ice shattered within five seconds of forming. _

"_My future wife is not to be weak," Hiroto spat, angrily shoving the scroll containing her clan secrets into her face. Yuki sat still as he did so. When he was done, the scroll slid down her nose before fluttering to the ground. _

_The ink was smeared, rending the words unreadable. _

"_You will learn the ice jutsu. You won't have dinner until you can make it hold for at least a minute." _

_Yuki practiced for the rest of the night, getting the jutsu to hold for forty eight seconds before she promptly passed out from chakra exhaustion. _

_A princess kept all her complaints to herself. _

_Ten year old Yuki Kazikane sat on the throne, looking down at the bound man in front of her. He was on his knees, tears spilling from his eyes as he pleaded for Hiroto to show him mercy. Hiroto deemed the man's case a waste of time and passed him off to Yuki to determine his fate. _

_Turning to Yuki, the man began to plead mercy once more. He spoke of his ten year old son at home, who was still waiting for him to return. He tried to tug on her heart strings by mentioning his crippled wife and how his family depended on him. He begged for mercy, trying to explain he had only stolen from the palace for the sake of survival. He openly cried when Yuki motioned for him to stand up. _

_Gracefully, Yuki descended down the throne, her robes trailing after her. At full height, Yuki barely reached the man's chest and craned her head upward to see the hope shining in his eyes. _

"_Rest in peace," Yuki told him softly. _

_A shard of icicle appeared from her sleeve, piercing the man's heart. He gurgled, choking on his own blood before his body crumpled to the floor. Yuki waved for the guards to take care of the body, dropping the bloody icicle next to the man. She turned away, her robes swishing behind her. _

_The Ice Princess, they whispered behind her back. A heart made out of ice. _

_A princess carried out the will of the King. _

_Fourteen year old Yuki Kazikane eyed the circle of men around her. Two visibly took a step back upon meeting her icy gaze. _

"_Who's next?" _

_To anyone who didn't know, the fourteen year old girl was hardly a threat. Built with a fragile frame, the girl was all skin and bones. Yet the pile of dead bodies in the snow begged to disagree. _

_Yuki casually wiped her blood stained hands with a handkerchief. The guards audibly sighed; that meant they were done being her target practice for the day. But they were wrong, so wrong. _

_With a flick of her hand as Yuki left, tendrils of ice formed from the ground, wrapping themselves around the arms and legs of every guard in the clearing, trapping them. No matter how much they struggled, the ice held on tight. Each movement made the ice wrap around them tighter. _

_By the next morning, all seven guards were frozen to death. _

_A princess could fight her own battles. _

_Sixteen year old Yuki Kazikane stared out at the plethora of people seated around the round tables. Whispers erupted at each table, but conspicuously stopped as she neared them. Her gaze met one of a frightened man, who immediately ducked to avoid her gaze. _

_Her soulless eyes spotted the glass of champagne on the table. Molding her chakra, she made the champagne freeze, shards of ice sticking upward, mere millimeters from the man's face. His head jerked backwards, fear written all over his face. As was expressed on the faces of all of his other companions at the table. _

_Yuki left them, all of them too scared to utter another word. _

_With her unnaturally pale skin and gorgeous brown hair, Yuki was considered to be the most exquisite bride that the Land of Snow has ever seen. Yet the whispers of her becoming the Ice Queen dominated the wedding's conversation. _

_Anyone who dared to utter those words found their champagne spiked, literally spiked, like she had done to the first man. _

_The whispers died down. The villagers watched the wedding take place, turning Ice Princess into Ice Queen. Hiroto smirked proudly at his wife's intimidating presence...oh she would do well ruling by his side. _

_A queen...didn't have a heart._

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**In canon, Rin's background was never explored, so I took the liberty of doing that because I can see her and Haku being related. :P **

**As for some of the reviews I got last chapter, no, this story won't turn into some angst love story like Twilight haha. This story will be more focused on the plot line and their relationship development is sort of something that will gradually happen as more time passes. Like I have mentioned, this story will span about two decades of their life (assuming that Kakashi is 33 in Shippuden? I can't exactly remember, but somewhere around there). **

**They told us to stay home as much as possible, so I guess I'm going to be using this time to write some more. Stay safe, everyone!**

**Next chapter is called Queen of Ice. It will be a continuation of this arc. **

**Thank you for reading and as always, let me know what you think. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	21. Queen of Ice

**Chapter Twenty: The Queen of Ice**

When the hawk returned a second time, failing to deliver the message, Hiruzen was concerned. Nine days since Rin had departed on her C ranked mission, there hadn't been a single word from her. Six days into her mission, Hiruzen sent the first hawk, asking for a status update.

Radio silence.

Today, he sent another message, wishfully thinking that the first failed delivery was due to a stray factor. Hiruzen hadn't expected the hawk to fly through his window, landing on his desk, with the same message he had sent still attached to its foot.

For her to be gone for nine days was worrying. Hiruzen considered the possibility that Rin had been held up with a particularly complicated medical procedure, but that didn't explain the lack of silence. And with her teammates asking him everyday when Rin would return kept his concern for her safety at the forefront of his mind.

A tracking team consisting of an Inuzuka and an Aburame was sent out. The Aburame reported back informing Hiruzen that the weather condition was too dangerous for his bugs to safely scout the area. The Inuzuka simply stated that all traces of Rin's scent was long gone, carried away by the heavy gusts of wind. The constantly falling snow erased all footprints that might have been there.

On the tenth day of her disappearance, Hiruzen received payment from the Land of Snow for the mission. Hiruzen asked his assistant to contact the Land of Snow to inquire if they were mistaken about the payment. After all, the mission hadn't been marked as completed yet.

His assistant received no response.

And later on the tenth day, a very weary Katsuyu slugged her way into his office. Hiruzen had been too preoccupied to notice his former student's summon in his office until Katsuyu had made her way to the top of the highest pile of paperwork. And had gotten his attention by weakly calling his name.

"She's in trouble," was all the slug had to offer before it poofed out of existence. Hiruzen's hand instinctively reached out for the slug, wishing there was a way for him to summon her back to get a clearer explanation. Alas, the only two people capable of summoning her were currently out of the village, one of them in danger as he had feared.

Hiruzen had no choice but to summon all three members of his best Anbu team into his office at ten o'clock at night. All three of them had shown up, looking refreshed and ready for another mission despite having gone on one earlier that morning, and stood quietly side by side as they awaited orders from the Hokage.

Hiruzen sighed, wishing that he didn't have to be the one to break the news to her teammates.

"Rin is in trouble." There was no visible reaction from her teammates.

"Her last known location is in the Land of Snow," Hiruzen continued. "I'm assigning the three of you on a mission to find her and bring her back."

That was all the cue that the three of them needed to flash step out of the Hokage's office, leaving the Third to stare at the ceiling of his office.

Maybe he should retire after all...he was getting too old for this.

The three members of Team Ro wordlessly split up outside of the Hokage's office, each of them heading to their respective homes to retrieve additional supplies for the mission. Hound slipped in through his open window, not bothering to flicker on his light as he tugged a backpack out his closet. He lazily tossed some weapon scrolls, provisions, and clothing into the bag before zipping it up, swinging it onto one of his shoulders.

Crow had taken the liberty of not emitting any sound from his movements as he snuck past his father and mother's room. As he passed Sasuke's room, Crow stuck his head in to get a glance of his peacefully sleeping little brother. Smiling softly to himself under the mask, Crow moved on to his room, grabbing his already packed bag from underneath his bed.

Sparrow ran into one of his younger sisters, who stayed up to wait for him to return home. His sister took one look at his uniform and instantly knew that Sparrow was leaving again. Sparrow spent two minutes trying to placate his younger sister, convincing a civilian girl that he had someone important that he needed to save. He ignored the ache in his heart that resulted when he saw silent tears slip down his sister's cheeks as he headed out the door once more, backpack in tow.

They reconvened at the village gates, exactly twelve minutes later. Hound motioned for them to take off, following their usual formation. No one mentioned their missing member, making their usual diamond formation into a triangle one.

Team Ro stopped once at the borders of the Land of Fire, obscuring themselves in the trees. Sparrow bathed the area in genjutsu and put up a sound barrier before the three of them began to discuss plans. And making possible guesses at what skills the enemy had if he or she was able to take down Rin.

Once their thirty minute break was up, the three of them took off again, reaching the borders of the Land of Snow by the time the sun began to come up. Crow and Sparrow activated their Sharingans, attempting to catch a glimpse of Cat's familiar chakra signature through the thick snow storm. They didn't; instead, they saw many tiny particles of chakra all over the place.

"A sensor ninja," Sparrow concluded, shutting off his Sharingan. "The moment we enter that snow storm, he will be able to detect our presence."

"An artificial storm, so our enemy is well versed in snow jutsus," Hound said. "Let's see if we can melt it."

On the count of three, all three of them launched their strongest fireball jutsu. The combined heat from fire had been enough to take out a decent chunk of the storm, but the other half was still going, picking up snow from the ground and reforming.

Team Ro changed tactics, forming two clones each. Crow and Sparrow were responsible for the fire jutsu, while Hound would use wind jutsu to augment the strength of their fire. This time, the heat of the fireball was enough to disperse a large chunk of the storm. After checking for chakra once more with his Sharingan, Sparrow motioned an all clear and led the way through.

Beyond the first storm, there were two more that followed. Using the same trick as before, Team Ro made quick of the storms and snuck through it.

After crossing a considerable amount of distance after the third storm, Sparrow motioned the team to stop, pointing to the snow that fell lightly around them.

_We've been detected. Be on your guard. _Sparrow signed to them. Hound nodded, motioning them to rearrange themselves in a straight line formation with Sparrow at front and Crow at the rear.

A heavy gust of wind swirled around them. All three men struggled to keep their feet on the ground, using the aid of chakra to help stabilize themselves. The swirl brought many particles of snow together, the snow gathering together to form a man.

"What a surprise," the man commented languidly. "You made it this far without me sensing. And those masks...you must be from Konoha. What can I do for you?"

"A Konoha medic was reported missing in the Land of Snow."

"A Konoha medic…" the man repeated. "Can't say I know of such a person."

"The Land of Snow requested aid from a Konoha medic two weeks ago. Konoha has obliged to the request and our medic has not returned."

The man shrugged. "She never stepped foot on my land. If she did, I would have known."

In a blink of an eye, Sparrow had moved, pointing his sword at the man's throat. "You have seen her, if you know that the Konoha medic that was sent is a woman."

The man chuckled, lightly at first until it sounded like he had gone insane. "I guess the guise is up. Find me if you can."

The man stepped forward, allowing the tip of Sparrow's sword pierce through his neck. The man burst into a flurry of snow, the wind working to scatter it about. Sparrow lowered his sword, hand clenching around the hilt of his sword.

Hound placed a comforting hand on Sparrow's shoulder.

"We'll get her back, don't worry."

After their encounter with the snow clone, none of them cared anymore to stay undetected. The three of them ran top speed through the snow storms, no doubt created by that man in an effort to slow them down.

Back at his palace, Hiroto hissed at the relentless Konoha shinobi. He felt their chakra signatures rapidly approaching the village. His attempts to stop their advances had done nothing and once again he lamented the fact that he wasn't able to incorporate genjutsu at long range.

Well no matter, Hiroto thought to himself as he spared a glance to Yuki, who was standing as still as a statue behind him. He would destroy their minds once they found him, just like he did with the Konoha medic.

To say that he was impressed with how quickly Yuki picked up the skills of her bloodline was an understatement. Hiroto had expected it would take her at least a few months to use ice style jutsus effectively, but under Ichika's tutelage, Yuki mastered ice style within the week. He supposed it also helped that Yuki was already a shinobi, with the understanding of how to mold chakra and perfect chakra control.

Since her mastery of ice style, Yuki had taken over maintaining the palace. With her skills, she had even made the palace much more luxurious than before. With her large reserves and somehow constantly replenishing chakra, Hiroto was more than satisfied that Yuki would be able to keep this up for an eternity. Not like Ichika, who constantly needed to take chakra from his guards…

After Yuki's display of power following her escape from the cell, Hiroto's guards had been understandingly wary of the kunoichi. The first guard to cross her had died, just like that. No one knew exactly how she did it, all Yuki had done was press her hand against the guard, but his death served as a warning that she wasn't a woman to be trifled with.

As expected of Hiroto's queen.

Now...all Hiroto needed to do was wait for the Konoha shinobi to arrive.

They were surely in for a surprise.

The Konoha shinobis were sure adept at dispelling all of his genjutsu traps that he laid along the way. Before he knew it, Hiroto sensed their presence near the steps of his palace. His guards moved to stop them, but were downed in an instant.

Hiroto sighed, annoyed that he always had to make an appearance. Yuki obediently followed after him, descending down the steps of the throne with the grace of a queen.

Hound halted to his tracks, throwing his hand up in the air as the silhouette of a figure came into view. The figure seemed to be in no hurry to meet them, slowly appearing into view.

Her traditional jonin wear was gone, replaced by a full length dress, long enough to hide her feet from view. An obi was wrapped around her waist, tied off to the side as a bow. The Konoha forehead protector was missing, revealing the purple mark on her forehead that was hardly ever seen. Her entire body was devoid of any sort of weapon, except for the sword strapped to her side.

There was no mistake about it. It was Rin.

"Intruders," Rin said, unsheathing her sword and pointing it right at them. Her stance and hold was completely wrong, Hound noted.

"She's under a genjutsu," Crow whispered to him.

"What do I do with intruders?" Rin called out, almost like she was speaking to someone else. A second figure appeared, a smirk splayed across his lips as he studied the three shinobi in front of him.

Could Yuki possibly beat them all?

Probably not, if the rumors of the prowess of the members of Team Ro were to be true. Still, Hiroto was going to bank on the fact that they would refuse to hurt a comrade.

"You eliminate them," he told her.

A Queen always followed the King's lead.

Yuki made the first move. Hound intercepted her, maneuvering his sword to counter hers. Flipping the sword with his fingers, Hound rammed the hilt of the sword against Yuki's hands, forcibly sending her sword flying out of her hands. The sword landed against the ground with a clang, but Yuki wasn't too concerned with her lost weapon. Palm facing outward, Yuki moved her left hand, sending a wall of ice up, blocking Hound's next blow.

His sword lodged into the ice. Channelling lightning chakra through his sword, Hound broke through the wall of ice, shattering it into a million shards. Yuki snapped her fingers, the glint of the ice catching Hound's eyes, entrapping him in a genjutsu.

Sparrow jumped into the fray, using his shunshin technique to reach Yuki in under a second. With her sensory skills, Yuki had detected him coming and adequately countered him by sending up another wall of ice to block him from reaching her. Moving her fingers, Yuki summoned tendrils of ice from the ground, the ice moving to wrap itself around Sparrow's limbs. Sparrow had been quick to jump out of the way, with his shunshin, landing a few meters away.

In the meantime, Crow went to grab Hound who had finally snapped out of the genjutsu, muttering something about a "cheap trick." Crow knew better than to ask.

Upon Sparrow's cue, Crow joined him in forming the hand seals to perform the fireball jutsu. The massive fireball hit the wall of ice, but the wall stood strong.

Three senbons flew towards Crow. With the aid of his Sharingan, Crow dodged the senbon efficiently, launching his own kunais. Yuki simply summoned another wall of ice, rendering his attack useless as the kunai with wires attached just bounced off the ice.

With her other hand, Yuki kept Hound busy, chasing after him with the tendrils of ice. His uncanny ability to read all of her movements grated on her nerves as he effortlessly danced around her jutsu without breaking a sweat. And he was getting closer…

Three ice walls were summoned, keeping Hound at bay. Crow and Sparrow tag teamed, keeping her on her toes as one launched attacks from every direction. Sparrow shunshined all around her, leaving after images of himself, confusing Yuki as to who was the real him. Multiple shards of ice stabbed through him, but he was still there, almost mocking her.

A loud piercing sound emitted through the air. In her attentiveness on the other two shinobis, she had missed the third, who had molded a massive amount of chakra into his hand. Hound's chidori tore through all three walls of ice. The corner of her eye saw the ball of electricity coming her way, her last resort was to send up another wall of ice. But it wouldn't make it in time.

Yuki shut her eyes, awaiting for her death.

The pain never came; instead, she felt hands latch onto her own arms, twisting it behind her back. Yuki's eyes snapped open, legs kicking backwards to break free of her captivity, but Hound held tight, making sure to curl her fingers into a fist so she couldn't summon any more ice.

"Shisui, now!"

The Sparrow masked man flickered right in front of her, Sharingan spinning into his Mangekyo. Pushing chakra to his eyes, Sparrow activated Kotoamatsukami, effectively breaking Yuki free of her genjutsu. Her unconscious form slumped forward, stopped from face planting into the floor only by Hound, who wrapped his arm around her waist.

Hiroto had the nerve to applaud at the three men's display of power. It couldn't be helped, Yuki had been severely outnumbered and still new to her powers after all.

"You might have freed her, but it's of no consequence. I'll just place her under a genjutsu again. In fact, I'll capture all of you and make you my pawns!"

There was no time to react as a swirl of snow surrounded them, the gusts of wind so strong that it nicked at their exposed skin.

Sparrow was the first to notice the genjutsu. In fact, his Sharingan picked up the massive amount of chakra surrounding him. He dispelled the genjutsu, only to be caught in it again. There was hardly any interval delay in between getting caught and dispelling, so Sparrow was left unable to use his Body Flicker technique to escape the storm. Eventually his will faltered, his mind plagued with images to the point where he wasn't able to discern the difference between the truth and the lie.

Sparrow saw him. The eight year old version of himself in the middle of the battlefield with Iwa nins surrounding himself and his teammate. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the pair was winning. With Shisui's lightning fast speed and his teammate's abnormally large chakra reserves and numerous destructive jutsus in his arsenal, they could wipe the battlefield clean in the next five minutes.

His Sharingan picked up on the Iwa nin that snuck up behind his friend. There was enough time to warn him, but the malicious part of him was jealous. Jealous that his friend was on a fast track to getting a promotion earlier than him. Jealous that his friend was so adept at ninjutsu, possessing three chakra natures already, while Shisui could barely manage one. Jealous that his friend was the reason why Shisui was still standing, alive.

The dark part of him kept his mouth shut, letting his friend register his own demise. With his speed, Shisui could have easily reached him in time. Could have easily saved him. But he chose to watch his friend die.

With him out of the way, Shisui was set to be the top nin of their age. Shisui watched his friend take his last breaths, performing one last jutsu with the remaining dredges of his chakra reserves. That jutsu effectively killed the Iwa nin, who had turned to his next target: Shisui.

His friend didn't want Shisui to die, yet Shisui had so selfishly allowed him to die.

Sparrow felt himself falling onto the ground, on his knees, slowly crawling his way over to his dead friend. By his side, Sparrow pleaded for forgiveness. Pleaded for mercy. But the ghost version of his friend spat angry insults at him, deeming him to be a coward. A sore loser. And promptly told him he would never be good enough.

The ghost version of his friend grabbed his hair, sending his head slamming down onto the ground. Sparrow didn't even fight it and allowed the ghost version to thrash him about. His mind vaguely registered the pain, but nothing compared to the bleeding hole in his heart.

The ghost version of his friend was no longer there. Instead, it was Sparrow's own hands reaching out to inflict pain on his own self. His hands reached to tug on his short locks of hair, body curling up into a ball as he fought the urge to thrash about. He lost himself completely, to his feelings of agony, helplessness, selfishness, and utter inability to do anything.

Crow went through all of the tricks he knew to dispel the genjutsu. Everything from the simplest methods to disturb his chakra flow to creating pain to even trying to reverse the genjutsu on the caster instead. Time and time again, Crow was drawn back into the genjutsu. Logically, his mind screamed at him that it was all an illusion, but it felt so real. So real because he had lived through it, lived through thinking that Shisui had died. And he was living through it once more, all of the same emotions that he felt so many years ago coursing through him so strongly once more.

He sunk to his knees, but refused to give up. With great resolve, Crow powered through the memory, feeling relief when it finally ended because this time, Shisui had actually died. The genjutsu didn't relent, flickering to the next memory. Bodies strewn all over. Streaks of blood marred the walls of the Uchiha compound. His father and mother lying dead on the floor, side by side with a grimace on their blank faces. His brother, running through the compound, screaming his head off as the unknown killer followed him.

Sasuke's seven year old feet and stamina didn't carry him far. Combined with his distress at seeing his entire family murdered and a copious amount of fear, Sasuke's concentration was anywhere but on where he was going. He tripped over one of the dead bodies of his clansmen, landing face first into the ground. Crow reached out to his little brother, wanting to help him stand up, but Sasuke had already flipped himself onto his back and was crawling backwards upon seeing the mysterious killer approach.

In the genjutsu, Crow ached to stand in the way of the killer and his little brother, but his body was rooted to his spot. Crow screamed at Sasuke to move, but Sasuke didn't, couldn't hear him. He screamed his voice raw, tears sliding down his cheeks as he saw the glint of the sword reflecting off of the moonlight. The sword was raised over the killer's head, Sasuke's piercing scream emitting through the silent night.

Sasuke's cries died as a pool of blood began to form around him. Finally able to move, Crow tried to lash out the mysterious killer, only to phase right through him. The killer turned away from Sasuke's prone body, hand reaching to remove the mask that donned his face. For the first time, Crow was able to identify the killer as the killer casually tossed his blood stained mask to the ground, letting it bounce against the cobblestone.

Crow found himself staring eye to eye with himself. A cold-blooded, hardened version of himself.

"This is who you will become, Itachi," the killer stated, a sinister smirk forming on his face. "You can't escape your fate."

Crow lunged for killer Itachi, only for him to flicker out of sight just before his body could make contact with him. His body crumpled to the ground, Crow sobbing uncontrollably behind his mask. His hand reached out, yearning to be able to touch his little brother once more.

A sword ran through his back and Crow went completely still.

From the moment the first genjutsu caught Hound, Hound went utterly still. How could he not when a very much alive Obito was in front of him? A very much alive Obito who was currently trying to kill Rin? He was sprouting some nonsense about her foiling his plan for a successful execution of the Kyuubi attack.

Rin was fighting a losing battle and Hound felt utterly hopeless. Obito spotted him, but the look he wore on his face didn't belong to the same boy who proclaimed he would be Hokage. Didn't belong to the boy who was always making up excuses for his tardiness. Didn't belong to the selfless boy who would do anything to bring his comrades back, alive.

It belonged to a killer.

Before Hound could even react, Obito flashed right before his eyes, knocking the Anbu mask away from his face. The mask fell, splitting into two pieces as Hound's Sharingan began to spin rapidly at the approach of two fingers.

Two fingers belonging to a killer, not a friend.

An excruciating pain appeared in his left eye. Hound doubled over, hand automatically moving to clutch his left eye. Well where his left eye once was. All he felt was gushes of blood leaking from his empty eye socket as Obito laughed at his demise.

"Don't know why I ever thought you were worthy of my eye," Obito stated. "Scums like you don't deserve to have it."

Hound felt the pull of the space around him. The air was closing in around him, sucking his right arm into what felt like a whirlpool. With the rest of his strength, Hound fought back, pulling against the unknown force. The strength of the vacuum intensified, successfully pulled his arm into the hole. The rest of his body was quick to follow.

And he woke to find himself stuck in an eternity of darkness. Where the voices continued to laugh, sneer, criticize every single one of his decisions. Where the voices hurled insults at the disgrace that he called his father. Where the voices continuously reminded him that he was a failure.

His shaky fingers wrapped itself around a kunai, raising it to point at himself. And promptly stabbed himself right through the heart to end the madness.

The voices stopped.

But so did his life.

There was a loud voice ringing in her head, but no matter how much she tried, Rin couldn't pinpoint the voice. She couldn't figure out what the person was saying. All she could see was the glass surrounding her.

How did she end up here? What was going on outside?

In fits of frustration, Rin banged her fists against the glass. Even with chakra to enhance her strength, the glass didn't budge underneath her relentless pounding. Eventually, the skin on her hands had turned raw, broken apart in some areas and already bleeding.

Before she could heal herself, Rin felt the floor give out beneath her. The gravity pulled her down under, until her body hit a patch of icy water. Rin kept sinking, the light slowly fading from her vision.

Sinking and sinking, watching her life flash before her eyes. Her life...one where she had hardly done anything to be proud of. For a medic, Rin allowed too many people she cared about to die. For a shinobi, she was a sad excuse of one, having been the target of kidnapping way too many times. For a friend, Rin was a horrible one. It was all her fault that everyone she cared about was dying, dying for her sake.

It was her fault…

"Wake up!" the voice roared once more. Rin's eyes snapped open, vision slightly blurry but as it quickly came into focus, Rin realized that she was drowning. Her lungs burned to inhale fresh air.

Kicking her feet, Rin started to swim towards the surface. The current in the water tried to push her back down, but Rin didn't give up. She kept going and going and going, fighting it with everything she had.

She gasped as her head broke water, taking a large gulp of air. Sending chakra to her hands, Rin latched onto the surface of the water, pulling the rest of her body out of the freezing water. Droplets of water splashed onto the water, creating a tiny ripple, while other drops slid down her body. Her entire body felt numb.

"Break out of this damn genjutsu," Isobu hissed. Rin's head snapped upwards for her questioning eyes to meet his.

"Your comrades are dying out there," Isobu informed her, the urgency present in his voice. "Don't let them down. Break the genjutsu."

This time when her eyes snapped open, she saw the snow storm. Her senses picked up three rapidly weakening chakra signatures. That was all she could do before she was pulled under once more.

With all of her will, Rin fought it, easily breaking out of the genjutsu. With her mind clear once more, Rin briefly recalled Hiroto saying something about the genjutsu affecting her through all five senses.

Then she was pulled in.

And broke out.

She sent chakra to her ears, blocking out any noise. All she could hear was the static noise of chakra buzzing in her eardrums. Her eyes closed.

Then she was pulled in.

And broke out.

Weak lightning chakra was sent along her nervous system. The jolt was enough to temporarily shut down her sense of feeling, leaving her body completely numb. Mouth closed shut, Rin proceeded to hold in her breath.

Now...all five senses were deactivated. The genjutsu would affect her no longer, but she needed to hurry. Her numb and stiff fingers took an agonizing amount of effort to move together, slowly forming the hand seals one by one.

On her fourth seal, Rin was running out of her. She forced herself to keep going, very well aware that she had exactly seven more seconds before the lack of oxygen knocked her unconscious.

Fifth seal, six seconds left.

Sixth seal, three seconds left.

At the one second mark, Rin finished the last seal. Her body felt the rumble of the ground beneath her as walls of ice began to form around them, completely enclosing them in an ice dome, blocking out the snow storm.

Chakra was released from her ears, her eyes snapped into focus, she let out of the breath that she was holding. The only thing she couldn't fix was her temporarily damaged nerves, but that was alright. She had more important things to worry about, like preventing Kakashi from plunging a kunai to his heart.

The palms of her hand wrapped around the sharp edge of the kunai. It dug uncomfortably into her skin, but Rin didn't relent on the tug of war to keep Kakashi from killing himself. With the aid of her chakra, Rin managed to wrestle the kunai out of his grip, tossing it as far as she could for a good measure. A jolt of chakra into his system and Kakashi snapped back into focus.

Except he had mistaken her to be the enemy and wrapped his hands around her throat. Her bloodied hands moved to grasp Kakashi's hands, scratching at him to let go. He did, eyes widening as reality began to set in.

Rin coughed. "Better be grateful I saved you from death." She meant it as a joke, to lighten up the mood, but clearly Kakashi wasn't amused. Not when he was too busy apologizing to her to pick up on the joke.

She pointed at the two Uchiha cousins. "Let's wake them up before they try to kill themselves too."

Kakashi made his way over to Itachi, cancelling the genjutsu on him. Rin was very amused to see Itachi sock Kakashi in the face upon waking up.

"I suppose I deserved that," Kakashi responded wryly before moving on to Shisui. Shisui's wake up response was considerably less violent. He just simply stared at Kakashi like he had seen a ghost.

"Where are we?" Trust Shisui to ask the important questions.

"Inside my ice dome," Rin informed him. "The dome will block out the effects of his chakra so we don't get trapped into his genjutsu again. Now, we'll wait until he cancels the jutsu or runs out of chakra…"

"Where did you learn how to do that?"

"I don't know. I mean, I feel like I just lived through a completely different life…" She spared them of the details of her other life. Of how ruthless and merciless she had been. It wasn't real, she knew, but it felt so raw, so real. Like she really had been Yuki Kazikane.

Finally, Rin felt Hiroto's chakra usage die down and she released the ice dome while he finished up with his jutsu. Seeing the four of them still conscious albeit weary, had taken Hiroto by surprise, from the way his dark eyes widened considerably and the way he took an unconscious step back.

"How-"

"When you have comrades to fight for, your will becomes stronger," Rin said. "But I don't suppose you'll ever understand that."

Hiroto's eyes narrowed at them. "It's no matter, I'll just-"

Before Hiroto could perform his jutsu again, Rin formed a tiger seal with her right hand, effectively cutting off any of Hiroto's movements. An agonizing scream tore from Hiroto's mouth, his body stumbling backwards as he cradled his hands to his chest.

"What did you do?!" Hiroto yelled, now flailing his hands about, trying to shake away the pain.

"I only ruptured all of the blood vessels in your hand. And tore through your chakra network. I left your nerves intact because I wanted you to feel the pain," Rin responded nonchalantly. She picked herself up from the ground, brushing the snow off of her dress? When had she changed into a dress?

"You-!"

"I, what? You were the one who taught me ice style. Now you'll pay for it."

Turning to her comrades, Rin smiled at them. "Finish it up will you? I have someone that I need to go rescue."

Kakashi nodded as Rin headed off back into the palace. Navigating through the familiar halls of the palace, it was eerily silent. There wasn't a single soul in sight to stop her. Rin even found the key belonging to Ichika's cell dangling from a rusty hook on the wall.

At the sound of the lock clicking, Ichika looked up, thoroughly surprised to see Rin.

"Princess Yuki…?"

"Please, just call me Rin." She knelt on the ground next to the older woman, throwing Ichika's arm around her shoulders. "Can you walk?"

Ichika nodded, struggling to get to her feet. One arm wrapped around Ichika's waist, Rin aided the weaker woman out of the palace where Team Ro was waiting. Hiroto's body was nowhere to be seen. The drops of his blood were the only indication that he had even been there in the first place.

Once Rin and Ichika made it safely away from the palace, Rin turned back to eye the beautiful palace once more. Beautiful, but full of haunting memories associated with it. With a clench of her fist, Rin cancelled the jutsu, bringing down the entire palace. The iced structure broke, sending a flurry of shards into the air.

The walls that surrounded the village also moved, sinking back down into the ground. The village would no longer need it, as Hiroto was no longer alive to manipulate the winds and snow.

For the first time, the village was a picture of serene. Hints of the sun's rays even broke through the cloudy skies, shining on the snow. A few curious heads peaked out of the doorway, mostly children, but were quickly pulled back in by their mothers.

"Is it finally over?" Ichika asked, her eyes sweeping to take in every detail of the landscape. For a woman who lived here longer than in her homeland...Ichika hadn't been blessed with many opportunities to see the outside world. It was her first look, in who knows how many years.

"Yeah," Rin dared to whisper.

"Home?" Kakashi questioned.

All of them nodded.

The prospect of going home, to Konoha, had never felt so good.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**A lot of you mentioned Isobu in the last chapter, he's here in this one. :) To clarify, Rin is not a perfect jinchuuriki, so she is still susceptible to genjutsu like Naruto was in his fight against Itachi in the Kazekage rescue arc. That being said tho, Rin and Isobu are friends, so naturally Isobu will step in to warn her about genjutsus and the likes, so she is mostly resistant. But, she'll have to break out of the genjutsu herself. Someone mentioned the scene when she was testing Itachi's Tskuyomi. Isobu can knock her out, but that won't break her out of the genjutsu, which is why he didn't do it here. Hope that clears up some of the confusion. **

**Someone mentioned Haku. Maybe in canon, the intent was to have Ice Style a kekki genkai in the Mist, but in this story, that particular ability comes from the Land of the Ice (which no longer exists since it has been decimated). **

**Next chapter is Homebound.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	22. Homebound

**Chapter Twenty One: Homebound**

Admittedly, there was a lot on their minds as the four ninjas leapt through the forest in the Land of Fire. But as the only non shinobi present, Ichika, from Kakashi's back, spent most of the journey staring at the landscape in awe and constantly badgering them with endless questions.

There was an unspoken agreement that the four of them would take turns to answer Ichika's question. Currently, it was Itachi's turn, but it turned out that Itachi didn't have an answer for Ichika's next question.

"Ne Kakashi san, how do you get your hair to defy gravity like that?"

The other three members of Team Ro couldn't help but exchange curious glances of their own. It was just something they accepted as part of Kakashi, just like anyone who met him for the first time accepted his mismatched eyes, but now that Ichika brought it up...how did he get his hair to do that?

Shisui kept his hair short enough to stick into the air and Itachi's long hair was certainly not gravity defying as it fell to the middle of the back. Kakashi's hair on the other hand…

"It just happens," was Kakashi's short, clipped response. A very disappointing response, but Kakashi had never been one to give direct answers. If Rin didn't know how Kakashi got his Sharingan, she would have been on the receiving end of "It just magically appeared one day." Yeah right. Any ninja worth a salt knew better than to believe a word that came out of his mouth.

From there, the interrogation began.

"Where did you get the scar from? It looks so cool!"

"Ah, an angry kunoichi and a kunai is never a good combination."

"Why is your left eye different?"

"Because I was born special."

"Do you always wear your mask? How do you eat? What's under the mask?"

"Allergies," Kakashi answered offhandedly. Neither of them seemed to care that he had only answered one of Ichika's questions.

"What's that tattoo on your arm supposed to be?"

"Not sure. I was drunk when I got it."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Really? You look a lot older than that. It must be your white hair."

"It's silver, not white," Kakashi corrected, like he always did. White hair was for old men, like Jiraiya and Kakashi certainly wasn't old.

"Ne, do you have a girlfriend?"

"I suppose not."

And so on. Kakashi didn't seem a bit irritated, in fact he looked like he enjoyed having the opportunity to make up vague, bullshit answers and having someone so readily accept it. On the contrary, there was a nagging feeling in Rin's chest as Ichika continued to ask questions about every aspect of Kakashi's life.

For Ichika to so easily get answers out of him, even though it was vague, while Rin spent ten years in his presence to learn all of that information...Ichika was getting it all in under ten minutes.

And for Kakashi to be the first to volunteer to carry Ichika when he normally would have been the first to avoid all extra responsibilities…

And for Kakashi to act so friendly to Ichika when it had taken her so many years to finally get Kakashi to open up to her…

And for Kakashi to suggest camping for the night when the sun was barely setting because Ichika yawned while Rin had been on the receiving end of "you need to work on your stamina" or "deal with it" so many times…

And for Kakashi to authorize a campfire on the account that they were in the Land of Fire when they never lit a fire on an Anbu mission regardless of location because he had seen Ichika shivering…

And for Kakashi to offer up his sleeping bag and cloak without Ichika even having to ask…

And for Kakashi to announce that he would stay by the campfire while Rin, Itachi, and Shisui were sent off to gather edible berries, firewood and hunt for fish to ensure Ichika's safety when he was normally so averse to socializing with strangers…

And for Kakashi to assign watch schedules, skipping right over Ichika when he would normally claim that everyone should get equal treatment...

Did Kakashi like her?

Okay, maybe the last point hadn't been entirely fair since Ichika wasn't a ninja so having her on watch would equate to not having anyone on watch, but all the other points still stood. It was astonishing to see how Kakashi's attitude towards the woman was a complete 180 from how he treated everyone else. Perhaps, Kakashi did have a softer side after all.

Except his soft side was directed at Ichika.

Rin plopped down next to Ichika, handing her a stick with roasted fish on it. Ichika accepted it gratefully and began to nibble on the skin of the fish, like she wasn't sure the best way to go about eating it. Taking pity on the woman, Rin showed Ichika the method to eat it, to make the most of the meat and avoid having bones stuck in their throats.

"You're so knowledgeable, Rin chan!" It had taken many reminders for Ichika to break her habit of addressing her as Princess Yuki and finally as Rin. Just Rin, like she had been most of her life.

"It had taken a lot of trial and error on our part when we were younger." That was mostly true although it was mainly Obito who struggled. Kakashi, the genius he was, had long figured out to eat fish properly on the first try. And Rin? She just wasted a lot of meat in her efforts to avoid swallowing the bones.

"So what are your other teammates doing?"

"Setting up traps around the perimeter."

"Traps? That's so cool," Ichika exclaimed. "What kinds of other cool things can you do?"

Rin gave her a very brief list of the jutsus least likely to trigger questions. Yet Ichika seemed to be very talented at finding questions to ask with just about everything. And so Rin found herself explaining the intricacies of the substitution jutsu, clone jutsu, and the various ninja tools that they used.

By the time that Kakashi announced for them to get to sleep, Rin was exhausted from all of the explaining she did. With a yawn, Ichika bid them a good night before going to sleep. Itachi and Shisui strategically placed their own sleeping bags on either side of Ichika, able to guard her from danger in case of an attack.

The only belonging that Rin had been able to retrieve was her mother's flute - thank Kami, Rin wouldn't know what to do if she lost it. Everything else was replaceable, so it didn't matter that much to her. Except that left her without extra clothes, forcing Rin to deal with the stupid dress. It constricted her movements so much that she had gotten annoyed and hacked off the sleeves and the skirt of the dress. It left her with a makeshift top and shorts that she wore underneath...definitely not material to fend off the cold.

Not to mention, her sleeping bag, blanket, and cloak was all gone. Anything to keep her remotely warm had been buried under the ice.

Rin found a spot under a tree, resting her back against the trunk of the tree. She pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. It was still cold, but it would have to do. At least it wasn't nearly as cold in the Land of Fire as it had been in the Land of Snow…

The feeling of something landing on her back jerked her out of her thoughts. Her fingers reached to grab blue material, her mind slow to register that it was a blanket.

"If you sleep like that, you'll catch a cold." It was Kakashi, staring down at her.

"Thank you." She shifted her body, pulling the blanket all around her so it wrapped around her like a cocoon.

After giving Rin his blanket, Kakashi had gone back to his post, a spot that he claimed in the branches. To help pass time, Kakashi pulled out one of the books on fuinjutsu and began to study it once more. His eye crinkled in amusement every time he saw one of Rin's notes written on the border of the pages. She had given each of the random squiggles a name, claiming it was easier to remember a sequence than having to draw from scratch and constantly labelled them throughout the book…

They were close to figuring out sensei's Hiraishin technique. The only thing left for them to do was somehow alter the formula seal to apply to their own chakra. That was still a work in progress, but he had faith that between the two of them, they would be able to figure it out. Eventually. Not to mention Kakashi still had the Rasengan to complete…

Peering away from his book, he eyed the sleeping campsite only to find that Rin had fallen asleep, sitting up. Kakashi sighed, jumping down from his spot in the trees. If he didn't do something about her sleeping position, Rin would certainly wake up the next morning sore all over.

Kakashi gently pried the blanket from Rin's grip. Propping her sleeping form with his right hand, Kakashi reached to slide his backpack at the base of the tree. Gently lowering her until the back of her head made contact with his backpack, Kakashi released his hand from her back. Draping the blanket over her once more, tucking in the edges to preserve the warmth in her cocoon, Kakashi gazed at her sleeping form. His lips curled up into a soft smile underneath his mask as he went back to his position.

Throughout the rest of his watch, Kakashi kept the corner of his eye fixated on her. And her watch, as Kakashi decided that he wasn't cruel enough to wake her up from her peaceful sleep to take over.

He covered her entire shift. By the end of both of their watches, Kakashi moved to wake up Itachi. If Itachi was surprised to see it was Kakashi waking him up instead of Rin, he didn't show it. Instead he dutifully moved to take watch as Kakashi finally got the chance to relax.

And to sleep, finally.

When Rin woke, the sun was already up. In a panic, she pushed herself into a sitting position so fast that she swore that she heard some sort of crack in her neck from whiplash.

_Oh no, I slept through my watch! Kakashi is going to get on my ass for it…_

The man in question appeared in front of her, holding his hand out like he was expecting something. Like a dumbass, Rin merely stared at his outstretched hand for a couple of seconds before realizing he wanted his blanket back. Quickly pushing herself to her feet, Rin shoved the blanket into his hands. Kakashi took it, but didn't move.

_Oh god, is he going to lecture me about falling asleep on watch? _

"I'm sorry I slept through my watch!" Rin blurted. Kakashi merely raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Ah that, don't worry about it. I was wondering if you were willing to hand me my bag that's right behind you…"

A crane of her neck confirmed that indeed, his backpack was behind her? How had it gotten there in the first place? And she was off the hook for being careless on her watch?

With all of those questions reeling in her mind, Rin absentmindedly grabbed Kakashi's backpack from the floor, wordlessly handing it to its owner. Kakashi unzipped the bag, hand fishing for something.

The object landed on her face as Rin had been too out of it to catch whatever he had thrown her way. Grabbing the object away from her face, Rin stared down at the navy blue long sleeved shirt that every jonin was issued upon promotion.

"Might be a bit too big on you," Kakashi was saying casually as he stuffed the blanket back into his backpack. "But I think you would prefer to wear it rather than have old men leer at you when we get back to the village."

With that, Kakashi turned away, leaving her completely dumbfounded as her fingers clenched against the fabric of the material.

When Shisui called her name, Rin finally snapped out of her stupor, quickly pulling Kakashi's shirt over her head. To say it was just a bit too big was a complete understatement; it practically dwarfed her frame, the hem ending a bit lower than midthigh. The sleeves covered the entirety of her arms, including her hand. She had to roll up the sleeves so many times that she lost count until the end of the sleeve rested right above her hand.

When Rin finally joined the group, her observant eyes didn't miss the way that Itachi and Shisui exchanged amused glances. Luckily, they both refrained from commenting on her new wardrobe. Kakashi didn't seem to notice anything different, treating her like she was dressed in her normal attire.

And Ichika? Well Ichika immediately launched into a rant at how unfashionable it looked on her. And spent the next five minutes helping her straighten out the rolled sleeves and tying her messy hair into a ponytail so that Rin looked somewhat presentable.

Keyword being somewhat.

Rin was sure she still looked like a trainwreck, but the moment she signed up to become a kunoichi, all thoughts of vanity were thrown out the window.

Kakashi pressed a kunai to the palm of her hand. "So you can defend yourself."

Then he gave the signal to move.

This time, it was Shisui's turn to carry Ichika, much to his annoyance. Kakashi merely pointed out he had already carried the woman yesterday. Itachi pulled rank as clan heir and casually mentioned how Fugaku would react if he walked into the village with a random woman on his back. And well Rin? Rin's build was even smaller than Ichika so she had been given a pass on the account that she was too small to be carrying anyone.

Normally that would have irked her, because that was the polite way of saying she was short and weak, but Rin would take the free pass.

Shisui lost the fight and thus had to carry the chatty woman on his back.

Itachi and Rin even joked along the way that Shisui was close to using genjutsu to keep Ichika quiet.

Shisui had never looked so relieved to see Konoha's gates come into view. Immediately at the entrance, Shisui let Ichika climb down from his back, muttering something about a back ache under his breath. A slap to the back from Itachi confirmed that Shisui was just being dramatic as he didn't even react to the hit.

The fifteen minute walk to the Hokage Tower had taken a lot longer as Ichika insisted on stopping to look at everything. Shisui offhandedly suggested to just leave Ichika behind, since she wasn't needed for the mission report, but Kakashi countered that by stating that she was an integral part of their mission.

Eventually, Kakashi managed to tear Ichika's eyes away from the trinket she was studying by promising her there would be plenty of time to explore afterwards. Preferably without the four of them being dragged along with her. Ichika agreed, allowing herself to be steered by Kakashi to the Hokage Tower.

To say that Hiruzen was relieved to see them was an understatement. Ichika had been the first to recount her side of the story, before she was sent to wait outside while Team Ro gave their own accounts.

Rin was the first to go, starting from the beginning of her supposed C ranked mission, detailing all the way up to her capture. She glossed over the details of what she saw in her genjutsu, but she was almost sure that the other four in the room had a thorough understanding of exactly what she saw. At that part, she let the others fill in the gaps in her memory.

"Wait, I attacked you guys?" Rin interjected halfway through Kakashi's account. He shot her a wry look.

"You even attempted to use a sword. Your grip and stance was very poor, might I add." She wanted to shrivel up in embarrassment; she hadn't recalled any of the fight happening.

Rin was the one to finish up the report. For the duration of the account, the Third remained silently, nodding all the right intervals.

Finally when they finished, Hiruzen let out a long sigh. "I suppose I couldn't keep your heritage hidden from you forever."

"You knew who I was? Who my parents are?"

"Were," Hiruzen corrected gently. "Your mother was good friends with Sakumo. Imagine my surprise when Sakumo showed up in my office one day with you in his arms. Sakumo told me that Yua had entrusted your safety to me. To keep you safe in Konoha. But I suppose if you don't want to stay in Konoha, that's understandable."

Rin frowned. "Why wouldn't I stay?"

"Perhaps you wish to return to your homeland."

"My home is in Konoha," Rin insisted stubbornly. "As long as you don't kick me out, I'm not leaving."

The Third smiled softly.

When the debate came up as to who would be Ichika's guide around Konoha, all three males of Team Ro pointed fingers at Rin.

_You have more patience than the rest of us, _was Kakashi's argument.

_Ichika is your kin, so you should spend more time with her, _was Itachi's argument.

Shisui didn't even need to say anything; his displeasure of spending another moment in the bubbly woman's presence was written all over his face.

And that was how Rin found herself showing Ichika around Konoha and housing her until a more permanent housing situation was worked out. Ichika talked her ears off, but the good thing was that Ichika never expected a response. She was just happy to talk about anything, point out all of the cool things that she saw, and ask numerous questions to satisfy her curiosity.

And all things considering, it was nice to be able to spend time with the last of her known kin. If this was what having a family felt like, then Rin supposed having to deal with a chatterbox was a small price to pay. Just like dealing with Kushina nee's occasion whack to the head at her stupidity and her smothering…

All was fine until Ichika had to go and make the conversation awkward.

"You're Kakashi san's teammate, right?"

Rin nodded.

"Have you seen his face without his mask? What is he like? I mean even with the mask on, he's so handsome, so I imagine he's even more handsome without it, eh?"

"I guess," was Rin's only response. What else was she supposed to say? That he looked ridiculously hot without his mask? That the dimples on his face when he smiled was the cutest thing ever? That the mole on his face was always her go to place to stare when he took off his mask?

"Ah, so you have seen it!" Ichika exclaimed.

"I've known him for over ten years now. I guess he figured it was pointless to hide it anymore." But really, Rin had been hoping it was because he had gotten comfortable in her presence to not wear the mask.

"Say, do you know what kind of girl he likes?"

To which Rin promptly spat out all of the water in her mouth all over the table and onto Ichika. Flushing from the humiliation, Rin apologized to Ichika and began to wipe down the table with nearby napkins.

"He doesn't really date, so I wouldn't know."

"Really? He seems like a good man, so I wouldn't imagine him to stay single for too long."

Maybe part of the reason that Kakashi wore his mask was to prevent the female population in Konoha from jumping on him.

"Well, he's a bit emotionally stunted," Rin mused. "Childhood traumas and all. Now the only things he cares about are missions and training." Then Rin proceeded to rant of all of the times that Kakashi invited her out to do something "normal" like eating dinner, only to want to pour over the mission report. Or visiting her apartment late at night, to tell her about his latest breakthrough with his jutsu. Or picking her up from the hospital after her shift, only because he had a burning question about fuinjutsu he had to ask her.

Ichika clapped her hands together. "I approve of you two to date."

"Wha-?" Wasn't Ichika the one who liked him?

"Sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I was interested in him," Ichika stated, laughing lightly to herself. "Since I'm your only family left, I just wanted to see if he was right for you. And I approve. Like I said, he's a good man."

"And you concluded that how…?"

"Good men like him don't stay single for too long, but it's obvious that he's waiting for the right one. I think that's cute," Ichika began. "Besides, you don't see the way he looks at you when you're not looking. You didn't see how tender and careful he was when he moved you to a more comfortable sleeping position. And from your stories, it seems that Kakashi san might be a bit dumb when it comes to emotions, but he has the right intentions.

"Have you ever thought that he's not sure of how to interact with you? I know you think that he seeks you out only to talk about training and boring things, but perhaps that's the only way he knows how to spend time with you without making it awkward. After all, you have to remember this boy is awkward when it comes to emotions."

"Before I left on the mission, Kakashi told me that he didn't love me. That...I belonged to someone else. That someone else was our friend in the past who liked me, but he has passed away since then."

"I think it's just his dumb way of dealing with his emotions. Kakashi san thinks he has a valid excuse, so he can remain in denial, but sooner or later, his true feelings will come out. You shouldn't push him."

"I guess, but it's just been such a long time that I'm starting to think I would be better moving on."

"And why is that?" Ichika questioned. "Is it because you see your peers already finding love and you think you are falling behind?"

Rin nodded.

"When it comes to love, there's no timeline," Ichika told her. "If you are right for each other and when the right time comes, it will happen. It could be now, five, ten, or twenty years into the future. You'll never know if you give up on him."

"I see. Thank you for your wisdom."

"Being locked up for so many years gives me a lot of time to think," Ichika joked. "In all seriousness, I think it's time that I go looking for my future."

"You won't stay in Konoha?"

Ichika smiled. "Konoha's great and all, but it's not my home. There might not be a village in the Land of Ice there anymore, but there's another town close to the border. I think I'll go stay there and maybe one day I'll rebuild our village."

"But-"

"But what? You can always come visit me if you miss me. Besides, I've already taught you everything that I know. The rest is up to you to master ice style jutsu."

"I understand. Thank you."

"No," Ichika cut in. Happiness was shining in her eyes. "Thank you for saving my life and giving me another chance to live again."

"Believe it or not," Ichika continued softly. "You are a great Queen. Don't let those stupid fake images convince you otherwise."

And when Rin saw Ichika off at the gates of Konoha the next morning, she felt surprisingly content as she waved Ichika goodbye.

Content that she had gotten a chance to know her family.

Content that the three males of Team Ro had grudgingly showed up to bid farewell to Ichika as well, even if they kept a considerable distance between themselves and Ichika.

Content that she was _home._

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**Sorry it's a bit late, told myself I was going to post this morning but then I kept remembering things that I needed to do. So here it is now! **

**Ichika was a random OC that I made for the sake of this story, but it turned out that I really loved her character. Not sure if you felt the same way, but I think Rin needs a motherly/older sister figure in her life, since RIP Kushina :( **

**This is sort of a fluff chapter, also to serve as a transition to the next arc (this is probably the one that you've been waiting for). **

**Next chapter is called Day and Night.**

**As always, thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	23. Day and Night

**Chapter Twenty Two: Day and Night**

All Tadashi Uchiha wanted to do was to go home. From the police station, Tadashi could almost smell the wafts of his wife's aromatic cooking. The happy trills of laughter of his seven year old daughter rang in his head as she ran into his arms to greet him every night that she returned. His wife wasn't from a prominent clan and his daughter had no desire to follow his footsteps, but that was fine.

All Tadashi Uchiha needed in his life were his two girls and he was content.

With extra vigor in his step, Tadashi made his final rounds through the holding cells. It was routine to check up on the prisoners before swapping shifts. While the prisoners often sneered at them while they did so, Tadashi knew it was just an extra protocol in place to ensure nothing had happened to the prisoners.

The highlight in Tadashi's career had been when he was dragged into breaking up a brawl in the cells a year ago. It was particularly messy, with at least seven prisoners involved. Broken teeth, bust lips, bloody eyes, bruised torsos were just one of the many outcomes as a result of that particular brawl.

Since then, Fugaku Uchiha laid down the rule to keep prisoners separated if they had enough holding cells. And seeing how most of the prisoners were kept in for minor things, like stealing or causing disruption in the village, they always had more than enough empty cells to spare.

Tadashi breezed by the empty holding cells, shining his flashlight into them just in case a stray animal happened to crawl in. No such thing. Tadashi continued along his way to find that most of the prisoners were already sleeping at the time or simply ignored him. That was fine with him; he'd rather not have to deal with any troubles that arose.

Of course, there was always that one prisoner who would throw his body against the metal bars of the cell, yelling at Tadashi to let him out. Tadashi promptly ignored the man, leaving the rest of the prisoners to tell him to shut up.

The holding cells were quiet once more.

The eagerness to get home intensified as Tadashi reached the end of the hallway, signalling the end of his round. Peering into the left cell, Tadashi noted the prisoner to be peacefully asleep. Then he turned to the right, expecting the same since it was so quiet down here, but had to resist the urge to vomit all over the floor, right then and there.

Tadashi had wished for no trouble. It turned out he had spoken too soon.

In the right cell, the Hyuga prisoner was lying face up in his own pool of blood, glassy eyes staring at the ceiling.

With as much speed he could muster, Tadashi bolted out of the holding cells, heading to inform Police Chief Fugaku Uchiha exactly what he had found. The Chief wouldn't like this, not one bit. The village was going to pin the blame on the Uchihas once more and added on to the fact that it was a Hyuga, a member from their rival clan only made matters exponentially worse.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Exactly twenty two minutes after Tadashi reported his findings to Fugaku Uchiha, four Anbu members showed up at the scene. Or rather, two were still dressed in their Anbu uniform sans the mask, revealing their identities to be Shisui Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake. The third was the clan heir, Itachi Uchiha, but from the way he stood with the two Anbu, it was clear that he was here to investigate the case as an Anbu member, not as an Uchiha. And lastly, there was Rin Nohara, donning her medical coat and latex gloves.

Fugaku stood there, with his arms crossed. Every Uchiha present knew that he hated to have outsiders interfere with their business, but if the Uchiha attempted to conduct an investigation of their own, they were liable to be blamed for being partial. So the Third had wisely sent Team Ro, consisting of two Uchihas to ease the Uchihas of some of their worries, a tracker, and a medic.

Rin was the first to enter the cell where the Hyuga laid, still in the original position that Tadashi found him. She pressed two fingers to feel for a pulse, which baffled the onlookers. It was clear that the man was already dead. The onlookers continued to watch silently as Rin moved the Hyuga's head, examining the wound on his neck. The plastic of her gloves moved to brush aside some of the crusted blood to give her a better look.

The examination of the rest of the body was quick.

"A deliberate assassination," Rin announced, nodding at Tadashi to take notes. He furiously began to scribble everything the medic said, word for word. "There are no signs of struggle. There are bruises littering his body, but judging from the color, it's safe to say that those have been a couple of days old. Perhaps from the scuffle that landed him in jail in the first place."

The more that Rin spoke, the more that she impressed the Uchiha clan. Even Fugaku was pressed to admit that he was slightly impressed at her competency in the matter.

"Ichiro Hyuga. Age twenty four. Member of the Hyuga clan. Blood type O negative. Clean medical history." No one really questioned how Rin knew all of that from the top of her head. Even the Uchihas hadn't known the Hyuga by name, Tadashi included. They had simply known he was a Hyuga from the white pupils. Still, Tadashi scribbled that information down, even if he wasn't sure how it would be relevant to the investigation.

"Cause of death was the shutdown of the brain."

That earned questioning looks from the Uchiha clan. Wasn't it clear that it was blood loss?

"The wound is a single, sharp cut to the neck," Rin went on to explain. Tadashi continued to scribble. "The cut severed the internal carotid artery which cuts off blood flow to the brain. From his height and weight, I'd wager his brain stopped functioning approximately six minutes before he would have died from blood loss. In that case, the injury would have been made approximately five minutes before his time of death. When did you say you found him?"

"I was making my final rounds before I got off shift at 9:30, so around 9:25?" Tadashi answered.

"It's almost ten o'clock," Rin murmured. "Rigor mortis still hasn't set in yet, so the time of death can be anywhere from just before seven o'clock until Tadashi san found him."

"Pull the tapes starting from 6:30 to 9:25," Rin ordered. Fugaku Uchiha sent one of the Uchiha to do as Rin asked. "We'll start the search from right outside of this cell. We can rule out the killer approaching him from the cell door because for the cut to have been done at that angle, it must be done from behind. So the murderer must have snuck in through the window-" to which Rin pointed at the small window near the ceiling of the cell "-or a teleportation technique. Teleportation is a bit unlikely since I can feel the chakra suppressing units placed all around the cells."

"But the window is still intact," one of the Uchihas pointed out. "No damage has been done to the metal bars."

"It's also entirely possible for one to transform into a smaller creature, say a rodent, and sneak in," Rin countered. "Now, if you'll excuse us…"

Kakashi set his ninkens to work, sniffing out the surrounding area. Itachi and Shisui attempted to find any traces of the killer, even if something as simple as a footprint or broken twig. Meanwhile, Rin had taken the body in for a more thorough autopsy, hoping to narrow down the time frame for death.

The Uchihas pulled the tapes, only to find that the tapes had been tampered with.

The word reached the Hyuga's ears. They wanted to demand retribution from the Uchiha at the death of their own kin, already pissed that the Uchiha had thrown one of their own into jail in the first place. The Third delayed their inevitable confrontation by citing that there was a twenty four hour grace period for investigation to be conducted.

At the end of the twenty four hour investigation, the case was unconcluded. Whoever the killer was left absolutely no trace of himself, not even a stray hair anywhere. Rin had successfully determined the time of death, but that wasn't helpful other than to figure out who had an alibi and who didn't. That only mattered if the perpetrator was actually the Uchiha police force.

Team Ro strongly suspected that someone was purposefully framing the Uchihas, but had no evidence to prove otherwise. Just as easily, a Uchiha could have approached from the outside and killed the unsuspecting Hyuga.

Shit went down at the emergency council meeting, where Hyuga demanded retribution from the Uchihas. The Uchihas were adamant in maintaining that they were innocent in the situation. Team Ro was to remain impartial to the case and delivered all of the facts they knew, which didn't help disprove or prove the Uchiha's innocence.

The council went around and around in circles, until it was finally deemed that the Uchihas were innocent until proven guilty. A compromise was reached, in which Anbu would watch over the police force to ease the villagers' minds. Clearly Fugaku was not a supporter of the compromise, but what other choice did he have? The Hyuga seemed to be momentarily satisfied with the compromise.

But the damage was done. Other than being under observation, the Uchiha clan had mostly come out unscathed from the council. Not from the villagers however. The word began to spread through the village about the incident, rumors leading the story to become more twisted than it actually was. Still, the distrust was evident.

The authority that the police force once had was waning. Villagers began to fight back against the Uchihas, claiming that they didn't want to go to jail to end up dead. How could they trust them when there was a killer among them?

The situation had gotten so bad to the point where the Anbu had to step in to maintain order. From there, it became an unspoken arrangement that the Uchiha police force remained in name only. The real authority laid in the hands of the Anbu.

Naturally, the Uchihas weren't happy about it...

* * *

Team Ro was given a break. Or rather, Itachi and Shisui requested a leave of absence to deal with clan matters. Their request was granted and Hiruzen decided to give the other two members a break as well. Once in a while, Kakashi would still be roped in to help with the policing efforts. Rin made use of her break by showing up at the hospital to help out.

Itachi caught up with Rin with a four year old Sasuke in tow. Upon seeing the Uchiha symbol on the back of their shirts, the civilians turned their faces in disgust. Itachi had noticed it, as did Rin, but Sasuke remained blissfully ignorant.

Ah, to be a kid again..

"There's going to be a clan meeting tonight," Itachi explained. "I don't want Sasuke to be involved, so is it too much of a bother to ask you to watch him?"

"Alright," Rin agreed. "Hope the meeting goes well."

Except for the fact that nothing concerning bitter Uchihas ever went well. And both of them knew it. With a few words to bid Sasuke goodbye, Itachi handed his brother off to Rin. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke didn't seem to have an interest in latching onto her hand. Instead, he walked rigidly next to her, a pout displayed all over his face.

Clearly, someone wasn't happy to leave his brother.

Rin didn't know what to do with four year olds. Naruto had driven the conversation, but Sasuke remained stoically quiet. And what had she been doing at four years old? Probably pouring over complicated medical texts that were too much for her four year old brain to comprehend.

She took Sasuke to a familiar house, knocking lightly on the door. The old lady informed her that Naruto wasn't in before rudely shutting the door in her face.

At least Sasuke looked amused at her demise.

The second place she went looking for Naruto was at the Academy, where she ran into him the first time around. And as she expected, Naruto was perched in the tree, his tiny arms hugging the trunk as his blue eyes stared longingly at the gates of the Academy.

"What are we doing here?" Sasuke grunted, folding his arms across his chest. It might have been an effort to look more intimidating on his part, but when a four year old did it, Rin found it to be cute.

"You'll see," Rin responded cryptically before calling Naruto's name. Out of surprise, Naruto almost stumbled out of the tree and Rin was ready to flash step to the base of the tree to catch him, but Naruto caught himself in time. In record time, Naruto descended from the tree, running to her with his arms outstretched.

Naruto latched onto her left leg. Rin managed to pry him off a good five minutes later. A glance at the dark haired boy informed her that he was less than impressed at the presence of a newcomer.

"You didn't visit me!" Naruto accused, pointing a chubby finger at her face. "I stayed here everyday, waiting and waiting, but you didn't come! Even Kakashi nii came to visit me!"

"He did?" Rin was certainly surprised that Kakashi might visit the blonde haired boy out of his own will. Rin figured that he would be the type to observe from afar and claim that he was "looking after him" but really could only be labelled as "stalking."

"Yeah! He even taught me how to throw a kunai!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. Rin wanted to face palm. Of course Kakashi wouldn't do anything other than to train the boy. Did Kakashi know how to do anything normal outside of training? Probably not.

"Can we go? Can we go?" At Naruto's request, Sasuke seemed to be mildly interested, but tried to play it off like he wasn't.

Well fine, if that got the stoic boy to open up.

Rin agreed, much to the delight of Naruto. Although Sasuke tried to hide it, Rin didn't miss the smile on his face.

To put it simply, Naruto's aim was...atrocious. Sasuke's aim was exceptional for a four year old, no doubt the influence from his brother. While Sasuke managed to hit almost the center with every kunai that he threw, Naruto's kunais didn't even hit the target at all. One after one, his kunais littered the grass near the target.

And of course the young Uchiha had to look over at Naruto's progress and make a scathing remark about how the boy would never be as good as him. That started an argument, the two boys trading insults to the best of their four year old vocabulary.

Sad to say, Naruto's vocabulary was no better than his kunai throwing skills. Eventually the blonde boy gave up in a fit, tackling the Uchiha boy. The momentum of his tackle sent the two of them rolling through the grass, each of them grabbing at each other's clothing or limbs in an attempt to get an advantage.

At least Naruto seemed to dominate the brawl with his infinite amount of energy. Rin let them have it, figuring that was their way of letting loose. After all, that was what she witnessed Kakashi and Obito do all the time and their friendship turned out fine.

Let it be known that Rin's definition of "fine" had been slightly warped from the traumas in her genin days.

In the end, it turned out fine. Both boys eventually ended their scuffle, laying on their backs in the grass side by side as they tried to catch their breaths. Occasionally, they would still trade insults, but now it was done half heartedly and out of spite, not out of real anger. When Rin found them, her first thought had been how much she wanted to laugh at their current conditions. The second was how she was going to explain to Naruto's caretaker and Itachi why their clothes were covered in mud and grass stains, and why random leaves, branches, and stalks of grass protruded from their hair.

Well, at least they had fun.

She decided against healing their various scratches and bruises, deeming that it would serve as a lesson next time they decided to fight. When she returned to their respective guardians...then Rin would heal them.

Neither of them requested to go home. Instead after they were adequately rested from their scuffle, they went back to kunai throwing. Except this time, Sasuke was giving Naruto pointers although it was mixed in with insults.

_No dobe, hold your kunai like this. _

_Baka, your aim is off because you don't put enough force into it. _

_My nii san told me the trick to hitting the center is…_

And so on. At least the two of them were getting on, leaving Rin to be able to lounge under the tree's shade. That day she pulled a Kakashi, sitting under the tree, reading her book, peeking out every so often to make sure Naruto and Sasuke didn't kill each other yet.

That was the life.

When they got tired of kunai throwing, Rin happily provided shurikens. It kept them occupied for another hour.

By the time she had gotten tired of reading, Naruto announced that he was hungry, yelling at her that they had to try the ramen at Ichiraku. Sasuke had never tried it before, so it was settled: Naruto Uzumaki had to introduce him to a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku. Nevermind that Rin was the one going to pay…

At Ichiraku, Rin moved to help lift the two boys into their respective stools, but they both insisted they could do it all by themselves.

_They were grown up, _they told her. She didn't argue; instead, she slid into the seat closest to the wall while Naruto and Sasuke practically made it a contest to see who could get in their seat first.

The only time she interfered was to keep the stool from toppling over and smashing Naruto. Ten minutes later, Rin could see both kids had finally gotten into the stool. She was proud to see them work together, after struggling to get on the seats by themselves. Sasuke boosted Naruto up into his seat, then Naruto returned the favor by giving him a helping hand up into his.

It would be a shame if they weren't placed in the same three man squad. Who the third member of their squad would be, was a question for another time.

Upon his first taste of Miso Ramen, Sasuke grudgingly admitted that the ramen was good, earning a whoop from Naruto. In his excitement, Naruto had almost knocked over his precious ramen, and would have, if it wasn't for Rin's ninja fast reflexes to catch the bowl as it was tipping over. And sliding it out of the blonde boy's range until he was ready to calmly eat again.

As they were finishing up their ramen, Rin felt Kakashi's chakra signature approaching. Sure enough, he poked his gravity defying head under the flaps of the stand, catching Rin's eye and indicating that he had something important to tell her.

Only to be busted by Naruto's loud greeting.

"Sasuke, this is my nii san!" Naruto practically shouted, pointing a finger at Kakashi. Kakashi offered a small wave as way of greeting. "I bet he's a better ninja than your nii san."

"No way," Sasuke argued. "Itachi nii is way better."

And thus, the two started an argument over exactly whose brother was better. The two adults were ignored, so they conveniently took the opportunity to slip out of the ramen stand. Kakashi stood lazily with his back against the wall, posture slouched, and hand in the pocket of his Anbu issued pants. Rin stood beside him, making sure that she had a clear view of the two arguing kids. Of their dangling feet at least.

"Babysitter duty? Didn't know you were taking on D ranked missions again." There goes Kakashi sarcastic sense of humor, which made its first appearance a couple months after their sensei's death. It had been strange to hear Kakashi crack a joke at first, but over the years, Rin had gotten used to it. Mostly.

"What do you want?"

"Itachi and Shisui want us to meet at the cliff by the Uchiha compound at 3 in the morning. You game?"

"Not if the kids are staying with me overnight."

"Pakkun can watch them. And you can leave a clone if you are paranoid."

Rin agreed. By the time the two boys had stopped arguing to be aware of their surroundings, Kakashi was already gone and Rin had slipped back into her seat like she never left at all.

Turns out the two kids were staying with her overnight. Akemi, Itachi's cat, found its way to Rin's apartment, informing her that Itachi wanted Sasuke to stay with her tonight. Strapped onto his back was a change of clothes. Just for the fun of it, Momo had followed two and suddenly, not only did Rin have to house Sasuke, but two cats as well. At least Akemi and Momo didn't require any care.

Upon hearing that Sasuke could stay the night, Naruto also demanded he stayed. Rin didn't even bother fighting that losing battle with him and sent a clone to inform his caretaker and grab a change of clothes for him. When the clone dispelled, returning her memories to her, Rin hadn't been pleased that the caretaker didn't even seem to care about Naruto's whereabouts. In fact, the old lady was more eager to get him off of her hands.

At the agreed upon time, Rin left a clone with the sleeping kids and slipped out of her apartment. She had been the last to arrive, not surprised that Kakashi was actually there on time. He was never late for important matters.

"It's as we feared," Itachi began grimly. "The Uchihas are beginning to grow restless at the lack of inaction. Most believed that it is a plot done by the village to frame us and slowly strip our powers away. Even my and Shisui's objection to a rebellion didn't curb their spirits."

"This time, Fugaku san is on their side," Shisui added. "And the clan is not divided like it was before. Only a small fraction of members are maintaining their stance on peace."

"And what exactly are they planning?" Kakashi questioned.

"A coup."

"I plan on using Kotoamatsukami on Fugaku san."

"Is that wise?" Rin asked. "Will the other members still carry through the coup even if the clan head disapproves?"

"Probably not," Itachi admitted. "I think the clan is tired of not doing anything. First with not taking back the Sharingan from taichou, then not rebelling after we were pinned for the Kyuubi attack. The clan has had enough."

"The fragile peace won't last much longer…"

"What do you two plan to do?"

"The peace won't last unless Konoha makes some serious concessions," Itachi admitted. "We will talk to the Sandaime tomorrow. It won't be easy and unlikely to succeed, but it is our last chance for a peaceful negotiation."

"If the negotiation falls through, there will be conflict," Shisui continued. "And if that's the case…"

So many things were left unsaid.

_There could be another war. _

_We could be pitted against each other as enemies. _

_We could all die. _

Itachi closed his eyes. "If anything happens, please take care of Sasuke for me."

If…

At the rate everything was happening, "when" would have been more appropriate. But no one had the heart to correct Itachi.

Not when they were all silently wondering what they would do if they were pitted against each other.

Not as friends.

But as enemies.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**Had to add some wholesome Naruto/Sasuke moments in there lol. Always wondered what it would be like if they sort of got along...haha. And well, I think you knew this was coming; who do you think it behind the murder? In case you don't remember, this is the same Hyuga that Rin fought against way back in the jonin exams (1 v 1 battle). **

**How is everyone doing? Anyone have any guesses as what will deviate from canon? Any hopes of what you want to happen?**

**Next chapter is called Shades of Greed.**

**Thanks so much for reading, as always! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	24. Shades of Greed

**Chapter Twenty Three: Shades of Greed **

Everyday, they felt like they were living in a ticking time bomb. Like the peace could shatter at any moment.

"Concessions" were made, in the sense that the Third was forced to call off the Anbu watching the police force, lie to the public that they found the killer, pawn off the blame to Orochimaru - which wasn't that far fetched to believe-, and restore the Uchiha's authority as Konoha's police force.

None of Team Ro particularly liked the solution. Danzo and the Elders hated it especially, but it managed to placate the Uchiha clan.

Only marginally, according to both Itachi and Shisui.

At the moment, it felt like all of them were still living under borrowed time. Itachi and Shisui had officially submitted a request for indefinite leave from the Anbu and were placed back into the regular jonin ranks, under the continual pressure of their clan. The implication of that move wasn't missed by Kakashi and Rin; it kept them in the village more often as jonin missions were nowhere as frequent as Anbu missions.

On the other hand, it allowed Itachi and Shisui the opportunity to get closer to the clan. As two of the strongest shinobis in the Uchiha clan, it was impossible that they would be left out of the clan's plans. The question was whether or not they would follow through with it.

Even Izumi wasn't sure what was going on through the Uchiha cousins' heads. If anything, they would have informed her of their plan, but as Izumi tried to approach them on the matter, she was blindsided again and again.

When Shisui declared that he was going to train Rin and Kakashi how to fight against the Sharingan, both of them knew something was seriously wrong. Just after spilling all of the ways to counter the Sharingan, Itachi pulled Shisui away for an "urgent clan matter." The two of them spent the rest of the training session sparring, with Rin practicing looking at Kakashi's feet and using her sensory skills to prevent his movements.

The copious amount of time that Sasuke spent at Rin's apartment was exceeding the amount of time he actually spent at home. Rin suspected that he didn't want his brother to be aware of what was going on, despite being a kid, he was surprisingly analytical. Sasuke didn't think the same way and often whined to go home and see his brother. Spending time with Naruto only served to distract Sasuke for a couple of hours before he would whine to see his brother again.

Rin wasn't sure how long she could make up excuses to why she couldn't let him go home.

* * *

"It's getting worse," Shisui told the four member council, consisting of the Hokage, two Elders, and Danzo. "I believe that they will make their move soon."

Hiruzen looked alarmed at the news. "Is there anything that we can do to stop it?"

Shisui shook his head sadly. "The seeds of resentment and hatred had been sown since the era of Madara Uchiha. It won't be easy to stop the coup altogether." At this, Shisui pressed two fingers against his closed left eye. "I believe I can stall for time, but I am not sure for how long."

"You intend to use your dojutsu against your own clansmen?" Danzo questioned.

"Yes."

Hiruzen wasn't as accepting of the solution as the other three had been. "Are you sure, Shisui? Is there no other way to work out another peace negotiation or even-"

"With all due respect, Hokage sama," Shisui interjected. "We are beyond negotiations. I may be of the Uchiha clan, but I am also a Konoha shinobi. I will do what I must in order to preserve the peace."

With that resolve in mind, Shisui took his leave from the council room. A heavy burden weighed on his heart, as he recalled Itachi's words. Even without the support of their clan head, it was likely that the coup will still be carried out. Very few would yield at Fugaku's request...but a smaller force against Konoha would mean the Uchiha's demise.

Yet Shisui couldn't imagine his clan being at war with Konoha. He couldn't imagine having to be on the battlefield, fighting against Kakashi and Rin. He couldn't imagine being put in the situation to kill or be killed by those who he had grown up with.

He didn't want to imagine it.

He didn't want to see it turn into reality.

So he was going to try to do everything to stop it.

His trek home was interrupted when he felt multiple foreign chakra signatures close in around him. With his tanto already unsheathed, Shisui whirled around to face many masked Anbu. The Anbu parted down the middle for their leader, Danzo.

Danzo tapped his cane against the ground twice. "Do you really think you will achieve peace that way?"

"Better than nothing at all," Shisui responded evenly, wary of the man's intentions.

"I think you know better than I do that the Uchiha won't stop unless they are dead."

Was Danzo implying…?

"My method is less violent."

"But your method will fail, just like any other peaceful form of negotiation. The end will be inevitable, either the Uchiha falls or Konoha falls. I believe that deep down in your heart, you care for Konoha more than your own clan."

"That is none of your concern, Danzo sama."

Shisui spun on the heels of his feet, turning to leave once more when he felt a spike of chakra in the air. Danzo flashed in front of him, his hand reaching out towards Shisui's face. As his Sharingan spun to life, Shisui intercepted Danzo's hand by the wrist, casting a genjutsu on the man. The man's body went limp as he was captured in the genjutsu.

"I'm afraid I cannot do as you-"

Shisui froze as he saw Danzo fade from his vision. Danzo's chakra now appeared behind him and Shisui could barely crane his head back when he saw two fingers heading straight towards his left eye…

Danzo's hand was forcibly jerked away from his eye. Shisui's Sharingan allowed him to register the two senbon that embedded itself into Danzo's hand. Performing the hand seals for his go to jutsu, Shisui launched an enormous fireball in the direction of the Root Anbu, who had rushed to their leader's aid. As a row of Anbu performed water jutsu to counter his massive fireball, Shisui used shunshin to flicker out of the area.

He found himself at Training Ground 6. This time, a familiar chakra signature was one to join him.

"Thank you," Shisui said, knowing that he would be down one eye if it hadn't been for her interference. Rin took off her cat mask, clipping it to her waist.

"Kakashi and I have felt that Danzo has been up to no good lately. We even suspect it was one of his underlings who killed Hyuga to cast suspicions on the Uchiha. It was a good thing I decided to tail him, ne?"

"I see."

"We need to kill him," Rin stated, reaching into her weapons pouch to pull out her trusty senbons. Poison dripped down from the tips. "I feel Danzo's chakra signature heading our way, along with six others. I managed to poison him, but I'm not sure how he is still moving…"

They stood back to back in the clearing as the Anbu caught up with the two of them. Shisui was the first to move, leaving a trail of his afterimages as he viciously cut through the throat of the first Anbu before flickering out of sight. A fireball appeared from her left side. Sending a wall of ice up to keep it at bay, Rin ran towards the Anbu who had ducked to take cover, catching him right as he was getting back onto his feet.

A senbon to his jugular kept him down for good.

The one with the white cloak was onto her in the next moment, raining a water jutsu down at her. Rin easily countered with one of her own, the two jutsus clashing against each other, splashing water all over the ground.

Channelling chakra to the soles of her feet, she kept herself from sliding as she landed. A wall of ice covered her back as two Anbu tried to sneak up to her. The Anbu captain saw through her trick, flashing to meet her head on. He engaged in hand to hand combat with her, keeping her from moving her hands to perform jutsus.

Well it was no matter to her as Rin formed chakra scalpels in both of her hands. A slight mistake and she sliced through the cloak of the captain, sending it fluttering to the ground. Ducking to avoid the punch from the Anbu from behind, Rin took advantage of his momentum and sliced through the tendons in his thighs. The Anbu emitted a strangled cry as he landed into the puddle.

Fighting two opponents in hand to hand combat kept Rin busy. Too busy to help Shisui, who was engaging Danzo at the moment, who happened to evade his every attack. When Rin felt ten more chakra signatures in the clearing, she knew that they were borderline screwed.

Only borderline because she knew what was coming.

Her foot swung out in an arc, making both Anbu members jump into the air. For a good measure, Rin kept them occupied by throwing two kunais at them, which they easily deflected. A mere second before their feet were due to touch the puddle on the ground, a flash of white appeared, electrifying the water just as they landed.

Two cuts to the throat later, both bodies crumpled to the ground.

"You're late," Rin told Kakashi. Kakashi merely shrugged as they rushed to rejoin Shisui. The three of them stood back to back as the new Anbu force poured into the clearing.

"His arm," Shisui said through his pants. "Izanagi. It makes reality turn into an illusion. That was how he evaded my genjutsu and negated your poison earlier."

The new Anbu force surrounded them from all sides. Danzo stood among them, the bandages already off his arm and revealing his collection of stolen Sharingans. Bile rose in Rin's throat upon seeing all of those eyes, thinking of all of the Uchihas he must have killed to obtain those Sharingans.

Four of the eyes were now closed.

"So what's the plan, taichou?"

It was Shisui who answered. "I'm going to use that…it'll take out the entire Anbu force. Cover for me Rin."

Nodding, Rin immediately activated her strength of hundred sealings. Slapping her hands onto Shisui's back, the black marks made their way onto his body right as Shisui activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. A full armored version of the green mass of chakra appeared in front of their eyes. One of its hands grabbed Kakashi, keeping him out of the way as the other swung its large spear in the clearing, knocking over the Anbu that had been slow to react.

Retreating back into the trees, green beams of chakra began to shoot out from the chest, taking down the remaining Anbu and Danzo. But of course, Danzo used Izanagi, to escape death. Another eye closed as Shisui released his Susanoo. All three of them landed on the branch in front of Danzo.

"To have found a way around the blindness from using the Mangekyo…" Danzo sounded like he was actually impressed. And hearing those words from such a renown shinobi would have done wonders to her ego, if she ignored the convenient fact that he was trying to kill them.

Tendrils of ice rose from the ground, attempting to restrain Danzo's limbs. For an old man, he moved quickly, jumping out of their reach and launching a fire jutsu followed by a wind jutsu. The ice retreated back to the ground.

Shisui flashed behind Danzo, who was still in mid air. Danzo attempted to use another Sharingan to escape his death, but Shisui's tanto sliced cleanly through his Sharingan filled arm. The arm flew through the air, landing many meters away from the two of them. Clutching his bleeding stump, Danzo stumbled back from the Uchiha.

Only for Kakashi to ram a chidori straight through his chest from behind.

Danzo made a gurgling noise, hacking out blood. Kakashi pulled his arm out of Danzo's chest, letting the man's body hit the ground with a loud thump.

Despite the fact that their leader was dead, the remaining forces of Root surrounded the three shinobis. There were a lot, over a hundred Anbu class shinobis against the three of them. Four of them now, as Itachi jumped into the fray, bulldozing straight through at least ten Anbu to reach them.

The four of them stood back to back, three of them with their swords drawn, while the fourth had her flute.

"Eh, the odds could be worse," Kakashi commented offhandedly.

And that was their cue to attack. Shisui, Itachi, and Kakashi worked to execute what they dubbed as their "combo five," while Rin went off on her own, sending a large wave of water crashing into the Anbu. Immediately upon executing the technique, she changed her chakra mix, making the water turn into ice, keeping the Anbu who had been too slow to escape rooted to their place. From there it was easy pickings.

Combo five consisted of both Uchiha cousins launching their strongest fire jutsus, augmented by Kakashi's wind jutsu. From there, Kakashi would disappear underground, tunneling through and pulling as many enemies down into the earth, save for their heads.

The four of them regrouped, standing back to back while the Anbu attempted to perform water jutsu to put out the massive fire. Evaporation mist exploded into the entire area. Shisui proceeded to douse the entire area in genjutsu.

Activating his Sharingan, Itachi tore through the mist, downing the Anbu who hadn't fallen for the genjutsu. From her position, Rin pinpointed the standing Anbu with her sensory skills, downing them one by one with a poisoned senbon. Kakashi followed Itachi's lead, only the sound of lightning crackling on his sword was any indication that he was coming. Yet he moved too fast, downing the Anbu before they even had a chance to react.

When the mist cleared, dozens of bodies laid scattered across the clearing. Some were still breathing while others laid frozen stiff.

And that was how the Third Hokage found Team Ro, with a team of non Root Anbu members behind him.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Third demanded, his eyes sweeping the clearing. When he spotted Danzo's prone body hanging from a branch, Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.

"With all due respect Hokage sama," Rin interjected before the Third could accuse them of treason. "Danzo attacked us first. All of the Anbu are loyal to him, part of his Foundation. And if that's not enough for you, you can look at his arm. Full of stolen Sharingans."

Said arm was lying in the forest ground. One of the Anbu retrieved it for Hiruzen's viewing. Hiruzen nodded grimly, gesturing for the Anbu to take the arm away.

"And why did Danzo attack you?"

"He wanted to steal my eye," Shisui answered. "He believes what I plan to do will not maintain peace."

"Clear the bodies away. All those who are still alive are to be thrown into the holding cells," Hiruzen ordered his Anbu force. "As for the four of you, you will be suspended from active duty until further notice."

Like Kakashi said...it could have been worse.

* * *

**A/N: Hi :) **

**So you've finished reading and you're probably wondering "what the hell was that?" Yes, I know, this chapter is probably the worst one in the entire story (in my opinion of course). The vision in my head when translated onto paper didn't do this scene any justice and I'm sorry that you got stuck with this. Hence, why I am posting in the middle of the week so you can actually have a decent chapter on Friday lol. **

**I actually debated just cutting out the chapter entirely, but it was an important transition to the next chapter. And plus important things happened, like Shisui is alive and Danzo is dead. Even if you don't like Sasuke as a character, can we all agree killing Danzo was the best thing that he ever did? **

**So in case there is any confusion: at this point, Danzo only has Sharingans on his arm. His eye socket is empty (because he planned to implant Shisui's eye). And honestly, wished that Shisui had a better death than he did in canon. I can get how Shisui was caught off guard by the Izanagi, but when I went to write the actual fight against Danzo, I can't imagine Shisui having a hard time against him. Especially with his speed and superior genjutsu, it would have been super easy to kill Danzo. Hence the short and sort of trashy fight scene. I WILL edit this...eventually and make it better. **

**Anyways, main points to get from this chapter: Danzo is dead, Root is basically abolished (the rest of it will be cleaned up by the Third), Shisui is alive. **

**Oh! A couple of people predicted that Danzo was the one behind the murder of the Hyuga - I guess it was never actually confirmed in the story, but in my mind, it was one of the Root operatives who did it under Danzo's directives. **

**Next chapter is called Dawn of the Dark Night.  Will be coming to you shortly...in about 2 days :) **

**Thanks for reading and powering through this chapter haha. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	25. Dawn of the Dark Night

**Chapter Twenty Four: Dawn of the Dark Night**

It was Izumi's seventeenth birthday, but of all the people, it was Itachi who suggested that they go drinking to celebrate.

"You aren't even of age yet," Rin scolded.

"If we have to lay our lives on the line for the village since we were seven, why can't we drink? As shinobis, we are considered to be adults the moment we become genin," Itachi countered. Well when he put it that way...Rin couldn't really argue.

Even at the age of twenty one, Rin still hadn't tasted a drop of alcohol. Kakashi had, only because Gai challenged him to a drinking contest on Kakashi's eighteenth birthday. When the two of them showed up at her doorstep with splitting headaches and spent the remainder of the day groaning in agony, Rin wasn't sure she ever wanted to taste alcohol.

But she heard that alcohol was good to help her forget her problems. And she did have a lot of things on her mind that she didn't want to think about.

So Rin agreed. Only to find out that Izumi was going to drag her out shopping for "normal clubbing" clothes that civilians wore. If she had known about it ahead of time, Rin definitely wouldn't have agreed.

"What about this one?" Izumi asked, holding up a black leather mini skirt. Rin eyed the article of item in distaste.

"It's too short."

"Ah c'mon! The point of going out tonight is for you to relax and maybe go home with a guy tonight," Izumi whined. "Please, it's my birthday! Can't you just agree with me?"

"But I don't want to go home with some random guy. That's weird. Besides, I can't hide weapons under that and it restricts too much movement."

"It's completely normal!" Izumi protested. "Do I have to tell you how many strange girls I see walking out of Shisui's place in the mornings?"

Rin didn't know about that particular piece of information and would have rather if she hadn't known at all. "Too much information, Izumi." She would rather keep the image in her head that Shisui was a world class feared shinobi with a strange sense of humor, rather than as Konoha's biggest flirt.

"Fine. But don't you want to move on to someone else? You and him clearly aren't going anywhere."

Izumi hadn't been the biggest fan of Kakashi after she found out exactly what he told her after he sought out Izumi's advice. But her conversation with Ichika seemed to restore Rin's faith in him, to be patient. But for how much longer could she wait?

"We'll see."

At Izumi's scathing look, Rin amended her statement. "I won't be opposed if someone else comes along, alright?" That had been enough to appease Izumi.

But an appeased Izumi also meant she poured all of her focus back into shopping. It was going to be a long day…

Boutique after boutique, Izumi dragged Rin along to the point where she suspected the two of them went through all of the clothing shops in Konoha. By the end of the day, both of them were carrying an insane amount of shopping bags; most of them belonging to Izumi.

"How do you even have that much money from your chunin missions to spend?"

Izumi had the audacity to look mildly offended. "Hey! I'm going to be a jonin soon. Besides, Shisui and Kakashi just gave me money for my birthday gift."

Typical. That way the two men wouldn't have to put any thought into what gift to buy her and Izumi was content because she got to buy whatever she wanted. And not have to receive boring medical textbooks from Rin for the first few years they had known each other.

At least Itachi was thoughtful. He had an actual gift prepared, or so Rin assumed as the man in question was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe he had prepared a surprise party at the bar?

Shisui and Kakashi had tried the same thing on Rin, to just shove money at her on her birthday, claiming that only she would know what she really wanted. Rin declined their offer, money no longer having an appeal to her. In fact, what was the point of taking their money when she knew she made more than them with her hospital salary added on?

So they changed tactics. Year after year, they would shove some scrolls at her, usually on ninjutsu as that was her weakest area, and pay for dinner.

And Itachi? Well, he always came up with some practical, but thoughtful gift in some way or another. One year it had been a pack of senbons to replenish her stash, another year he gifted her a brand new medical coat, to replace her old and dirty one.

But this was Izumi, Itachi's sort of girlfriend (only because he hadn't officially asked but everyone knew that the two of them remained exclusive for each other) so Rin had high expectations that he would pull through with a jaw dropping gift. She couldn't wait.

Izumi managed to coerce Rin into a skirt, but Rin only agreed if she was allowed to wear boy shorts underneath. As for the battle for what she wore as a top, it was safe to say that Rin won the battle and was able to wear the usual kimono style top she always wore when she was off duty or went on missions as a jonin status, not Anbu.

"Meh, you have no fashion sense," Izumi complained as Rin brushed her long, brown hair. "All you ever wear is your Anbu uniform, the standard jonin wear, or your off duty outfit. Your off duty outfit is okay, I suppose, and wearing the Anbu uniform can't be avoided, but do you really have to wear the standard jonin outfit? That's for boring people like Kakashi to wear."

"What's wrong with that? It's very practical. Listen, when you get stuck in the Land of the Snow, you'll learn to appreciate the long sleeves and long pants. It's very warm and comfy."

Rin omitted the fact that the only time it was really warm and comfy was when she was half freezing to death or when she wore Kakashi's top. On regular days, Rin could agree it could get very hot and itchy in the Konoha warm weather.

"If you say so." That was Izumi's way of saying that she really didn't buy into Rin's response, but didn't wish to argue any further.

"Say, what do you think about me asking him tonight?"

There was no question who "him" was.

"Ask him what?"

"Making it official," Izumi elaborated. "I know that he's under a lot of clan pressures to marry someone else, and I think he's scared how the clan will react if he officially announced that he was dating me, but…"

_Itachi will be eighteen soon and I don't want to lose him. _

_I'm ready to fight against all of the prejudice from the Uchiha clan alongside him._

_I don't care what anyone says anymore. _

"Go for it. Regardless of who he marries, I don't think the Uchiha clan will fully approve anyways. Even that girl, the one that he is supposed to marry, Shisui told me some of the clan doesn't like the fact that she has a very distinct Uchiha bloodline, even if she is an exceptional kunoichi. Even now, the Uchiha clan still doesn't like me either."

"You're right," Izumi said, her voice full of resolve. "If he doesn't ask me, I'll ask him tonight."

* * *

When Rin stepped into the bar, she couldn't wrap her mind around how civilians and shinobis enjoyed this place. To her, it just looked like a bunch of drunk people grating against each other on the "dance floor." It was crowded, to the point where they couldn't walk anywhere without bumping shoulders against anyone. Or have some of the drunk people bump into them as they stumbled forward without the aid of a hard surface to guide them. It was loud, to the point where Rin had to practically yell for Izumi to hear her even if they were sitting side by side. By the time Kakashi bothered to show up, fifteen minutes late, the loud music was already grating on her nerves.

Izumi was a lightweight, her face already flushed red after her second drink. Her body swayed slightly, but Itachi, who was sitting to her left, subtly arranged his position so that Izumi would lean against him.

Kakashi had supposedly built up his tolerance through all of the drinking challenges with Gai, or so he told her. Still, it seemed to her that Kakashi was moderating his intake to pace himself so he could last through the night. As for herself, Rin didn't have to worry. Being a medical ninja, she could flush the alcohol right out of her system if she needed to, all without the nasty side effects including the infamous splitting headache.

As for Shisui and Itachi, both were only drinking small sips. When Izumi urged them to drink more, to let loose, Shisui responded that they had a mission early tomorrow morning. A blatant lie, but Izumi didn't know that.

Kakashi and Rin exchanged questioning glances but didn't press the matter any further.

Seeing the somber mood, as none of them really knew how to let loose completely, Izumi proposed a drinking game which she dubbed "Truth or Drink." Simply because dares among shinobis never ended well, especially for the owners of the bar. And none of them really had the urge to move.

The three males quickly declined their participation in the game, so Izumi couldn't do anything more than turn her head and beg Rin to play. When Izumi pulled the "it's my birthday" trick again, Rin couldn't help but agree.

After all, Rin had done the same thing to Izumi on numerous occasions to prevent Izumi from pestering her.

"Fine, but it's not fun if there's only two of us," Rin conceded, sliding down the booth to fill up her glass.

"So convince them for me, please?" She should have known it wouldn't have been as simple as agreeing to play.

So Rin shot all three males a look that read "You owe me, so you will return the favor now," and all three of them had no choice but to agree. It probably hadn't been necessary on Itachi, as he looked like he was going to concede just from Izumi's puppy eyes.

Izumi started off the game, asking low embarrassment questions. The rest of them followed her lead, asking questions that they already knew the answer to. Well mostly. Until Izumi kicked it up a notch, asking Kakashi to pull down his mask.

Kakashi chose to drink instead, pouring alcohol through his mask and into his mouth. Rin didn't want to know if that was hygienic.

So Izumi tried a different tactic to fish information about Kakashi's face. "Rin, have you ever seen him without his mask on?"

"Yes."

"When?"

Rin wanted to protest that Izumi had only one question, but Izumi had a determined look in her eyes. One that told Rin that Izumi wouldn't rest until she got all of her answers. Admittedly, Itachi and Shisui were both interested in the topic as well, so if Izumi didn't ask, they would take turns.

"The first time was a long time ago. We were still on the same genin team and he had to take off his mask so I could heal his injury."

"And since then? What does he look like?"

"A couple times." Understatement of the year. Rin practically saw his face everyday, every time he came over to eat dinner at her place, but she wasn't about to give Izumi that piece of information to latch onto. "As for what he looks like, well-"

Rin never got to finish her sentence as Kakashi suddenly appeared by her side, tipped the bottom of her chin upwards, pried her mouth open with his thumb and pointer finger, and proceeded to tip the contents of her glass down her throat. She sputtered, coughing as the liquid burned straight down her throat.

"What the hell, Kakashi?" Rin shouted after her coughing fit subsided. "I could have choked, you know!"

Kakashi shrugged, his thumb casually wiping away some of the spilled alcohol that dribbled down her chin. "You were about to spill my secrets, so I took some reasonable measures to prevent that."

"More like drastic measures," Rin muttered under her breath, crossing her arms in annoyance. From that moment forward, Rin vowed to get Kakashi back for it somehow. Maybe she would spill his secret when he least expected it.

The game continued.

Itachi was normally a private person, but it seemed that he rather tell than drink tonight. Well, Rin didn't blame him; she didn't particularly enjoy the taste of alcohol either. For the rest of the night, she pawned off all of her drinks to Kakashi, as her form of payback for earlier. Kakashi took them wordlessly and was only slightly tipsy by the time Izumi was flat out drunk. Shisui was marginally buzzed while Itachi and Rin stayed sober.

"Didn't you have something you wanted to ask Itachi?" Rin asked Izumi, as her question for her turn in the game. If it was even possible, Izumi's face turned even redder.

"Ano, I was wondering ifyouwouldbemyboyfriend?"

The words were so rushed that Rin was sure that Itachi had missed it, but he hadn't. The playful look in his eyes waned, flickering out, before it was replaced with something akin to guilt? Remorse?

"I'm sorry," Itachi whispered, his dark eyes fixated on his glass. "I can't."

No one missed his choice of words, except Izumi who could only seem to register his rejection. Tears began to stream down her eyes. Her fingers tightened around her glass, downing the shot in one go. Izumi didn't even bother to refill her own; she stole Rin's glass, then Kakashi's, followed by Itachi and Shisui, before resorting to drinking from the bottle. Throughout the entire ordeal, she was muttering something incomprehensible under her breath. Rin reached out to comfort her, but was pushed away each time.

"I should probably go," Itachi spoke. He tried to make his voice sound apathetic, but Shisui heard the quiver in his voice. "I'm sorry for ruining the mood. Please take care of her."

And then he was gone, with Shisui following after him, after conveying his intention of looking after him to the rest of the table. Only Rin and Kakashi had caught on, as Izumi was too busy sobbing to even notice that the Uchiha cousins were gone.

Izumi wanted to drink herself into oblivion. Kakashi and Rin tried to stop her, but she was extremely stubborn. In the end, Kakashi was coerced into a drinking challenge with her.

"Don't," Rin had told him.

Kakashi's lone eye stared solemnly at Izumi. "If it'll make her happy, then it's worth it." Rin couldn't really argue against the fact and just sat at the sidelines as she watched two of her best friends drinking like there was no tomorrow. One to numb the pain creeping into her heart. The other, to numb the pain he acquired over the last two decades.

Eventually the two passed out on the table. Rin was left with the bill, an outrageous amount she was sure to get back from Kakashi later, and the duty to carry both of them home. Propping both of them on either side of her, Rin began the slow walk home, burdened by both of their weights.

Izumi was alright, as she was similar to Rin's size and weight, but Kakashi's lanky form and heavy mass weighed down upon her. At this point, Rin wasn't even carrying him; she was dragging his feet along the street.

Supporting his weight had been so much easier ten years ago.

The eight minute walk to her apartment on a leisure day turned into a twenty minute one, with her trying to support Izumi's weight and dragging along a grown shinobi. At least there was no one in sight, if there had been, the odd sight would surely turn some heads.

Going up the stairs had been worse. Izumi had difficulty putting one foot in front of another, while Kakashi had completely passed out at this point, leaving her to pull along his deadweight. In the end, Rin settled for leaving Kakashi at the base of the stairs, carrying Izumi up the stairs on her back to her apartment. Once inside, Rin made a beeline to her room, dropping Izumi onto her bed, before slipping her under her covers.

Only to almost trip on something on her way out. Upon closer inspection, Rin realized it was Sasuke, sleeping on the floor of her room in a sleeping bag. Why was he here?

Deciding that she would find her answers in the morning, Rin hurried back down the stairs, where Kakashi was slumped over against the wall. Tossing his arm around her shoulders and wrapping both of her arms around his waist, Rin pulled him off of the ground. She grunted as Kakashi's weight pressed down on her, almost sending her toppling straight forward. With the help of her chakra and sheer strength, Rin managed to haul him up the stairs into her apartment.

By the time she reached the couch, Rin was already dead on her feet. Unceremoniously, she tossed him onto the couch, moving his legs so that they dangled over the arm of the couch. Padding her way quietly through the house, Rin retrieved an extra blanket and pillow from her closet. Gently propping his head, she slid the pillow underneath before draping the blanket over his long frame.

On her way to the kitchen, she spotted two cats curled up on her dining table.

"Akemi, Momo?"

Akemi lazily stretched, raising his head upwards upon hearing her voice. "Itachi says he is sorry for the short notice, but he wants Sasuke to stay with you tonight." Then he promptly went back to sleep, curling up in a tiny ball against Momo's sleeping form without even waiting for her response.

Short notice? He could have told her anytime at the bar. Unless there was a change of plans after he left. In that case…

Rin didn't have a good feeling about this.

* * *

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"If we do this, there's no going back."

"I understand."

Two figures perched atop an electricity pole, staring down at the Uchiha fan that was proudly displayed on the gravel walls of every home. With one last look at the moon, one of them flashed the signal and they scattered in opposite directions.

The first blood was spilt in the main house, where the head of the clan and his wife quietly accepted their fate. Two clean thrusts of his sword to the back and they crumpled forward, one on top of each other. Hugging, even in their death.

The second blood was spilt in one of the homes located on the eastern side of the compound. It was almost secluded from the bustling noises in the center of the compound, but they enjoyed the peace it had to offer. The two youngest girls died peacefully in their sleep, dreaming of pleasant things. The head of the household smiled silently at the silhouette of his killer, closing his eyes to accept his fate.

He didn't utter a sound when a sword was driven straight through his heart.

From that point forward, both of their hands were stained with the blood of their loved ones. Both of their hearts were burdened with the resolve to carry out their mission. Both of their minds were endlessly silently offering apologies as their sword cut through their clansmen, one by one.

And little by little, the Uchiha compound turned into a bloodbath.

* * *

Rin awoke when she felt a foreign chakra signature appear in her apartment. The Anbu motioned to her that there was an emergency and turned to wake Kakashi up as well, but Rin held the Anbu back, signalling to him that he was unfit to fight. The Anbu nodded, teleporting out of her apartment as Rin scrambled to pull on her Anbu uniform.

In her haste to get out of the door, she swiped the half filled weapons pouch off of her desk and haphazardly tied the bandages on her thigh to attach her kunai holster. She forgoed bringing her flute, unable to find the holster for it in the dark. Pulling on the Anbu issued black sandals, a mask went over her face and she slipped out of her apartment, darting across the rooftops to the Hokage Tower.

The Hokage was staring grimly over to the village with his hands clasped behind his back as the Anbu continued to land on the rooftops, standing neatly line by line. Already, thirty Anbu members had showed up for duty and more to come.

It was rare to see so many of them in the same place.

Rin's heart dropped when the Hokage informed them about the Uchiha massacre. Already, her mind was reeling from the shock of it all, while the other Anbu murmured quietly amongst themselves.

Had they done it? Was it Itachi's plan all along to get them drunk so Kakashi and Rin wouldn't be able to interfere?

Tears slid down her face, hidden by the mask, as Rin followed the rest of the Anbu to the Uchiha compound, where the Third ordered to check for survivors. All bodies were to be hauled away to the morgue, in preparation for their burial.

Her gloved fingers brushed lightly against the streak of blood on the wall. Still fresh. Barely half an hour after the slaughter. She felt sick to the stomach.

Ignoring the Hokage's orders, Rin ran to the main house to find Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha lying face down on the floor in their pool of blood. Itachi was nowhere to be seen.

Her next stop had been Izumi's house, where Rin found Izumi's mother body laying on the couch. Her blood stained the covers; the blood had splattered all over the white walls.

The third stop was Shisui's house, where Rin found his two sisters presumably sleeping peacefully on their backs. Unlike the others, there were no open wounds, no blood to be seen. Yet two fingers to the pulse confirmed their deaths. In the adjacent room, Rin found an older man who died with a smile to his face.

Shisui was nowhere to be seen.

Even if she wanted to convince herself otherwise; there was no mistaking who had done this. For an entire clan to be reduced down to four living Uchihas…

Rin rushed out the door when she felt a flicker of Itachi's chakra in the distance. Following his chakra signature, which was rapidly moving away from her, Rin flipped herself over the walls of the Uchiha compound. Landing onto the soft grass on the other side, Rin took off through the field. Crossing the distance in record time, Rin jumped onto the first branch in the forest, feeling that the distance between them was growing smaller.

Itachi was moving at his normal speed, while she was moving at her fastest.

When Itachi felt her chakra signature, he attempted to move faster, but his effort was thwarted by Rin, whose clone jumped down from the trees, landing right in front of him. Her real body caught up thirty seconds later, closing in on him from behind.

Itachi had drawn his sword, his blood stained sword, in preparation for a fight. Itachi was still dressed in his Anbu uniform sans the mask and Rin wanted to desperately believe that he just came back from an outside mission. But she couldn't. Now when Itachi had submitted his resignation letter a while ago.

"Why?" The wind carried her question throughout the clearing.

"A testament to my own power."

His response was so full of bullshit that Rin didn't know how he expected her to believe him. Itachi, on a power trip? His five year old brother was more likely to go on a power trip before Itachi ever did.

"Tell me the truth."

"Like I said, it was simply to test my skills."

Itachi didn't waste any more words, lunging to slice through her clone. Her clone dissipated into a puff of smoke. Rin drew two kunais as Itachi turned towards her, Sharingan already activated. Her eyes automatically flickered down to look at his feet.

And their blades clashed. The sound of their weapons clanging against each other pierced the silent air.

A particularly brutal hit had knocked one of her kunais out of her hand. His sword continued its descent, ready to slice through the tendons in her thighs but Rin jumped out of the way, landing atop his sword. One foot charged with chakra lashed towards Itachi's hands, while the other maneuvered the sword out of his grasp. Itachi was forced to drop the sword and retreat as Rin's foot crashed into the earth, creating a crater.

The kunai left her hand, deflecting Itachi's kunai. The force knocked both of them off trajectory, landing in the grass on either side of them.

Neither of them bothered to draw anymore weapons as they rushed at each other.

Right foot kick. Left hand block. Bend knees to duck. Shift momentum to side to dodge. Right hand captured his punch, twisting his hand backwards. Take foot to stomach. Channel chakra to feet to root her into place. Movement of finger to capture her in genjutsu. Break out of genjutsu and take a punch in the face as a result of her momentary delay. Sweep left foot in arc, forcing him to jump into the air. Left hand punch. Left hand caught. Right hand forming a chakra scalpel. Cut through the nerves in his wrist if Itachi hadn't landed and backflipped out of her range.

No flashy jutsus were needed. No words were spoken. Just the sounds of hand to hand combat emitted through the air.

Itachi was fast as always, but at this point, Rin caught up to him in terms of speed. With his Sharingan to predict her movements, and her sensory skills to predict his, they were on par. Every hit that she landed, he returned one to her.

Neither one of them gained an upper hand in the six minute clash. In their minds, both of them desperately wished it was just a spar. In their hearts, neither of them wanted the upper hand because that meant they were forced to make a decision.

But one of them had to die tonight.

Itachi jumped back a considerable distance away, hands already forming the seals for a fireball jutsu. At the same time, Rin's fingers were moving to execute a water dragon. The jutsus collided, showering the area with evaporation mist.

The two met in the middle once more, kunai against kunai. Itachi dropped an explosive tag onto the ground, forcing Rin to leap backwards as the bomb exploded. Itachi's clone met her from behind, kunai ready to drive it into her shoulder. Spinning her body around, Rin's kunai deflected it as her free hand made contact with the clone.

It exploded into a flock of crows.

Having seen this trick many times during their spars, Rin quickly dispelled all three layers of genjutsu. When she came back into reality, Itachi was already on her, driving a kunai into her stomach as her hand wrapped around his wrist. She poured chakra into Itachi's body, latching onto his arm to prevent him from drawing back.

A trickle of blood dribbled down her chin, but she was smiling as Itachi broke free of her grasp. A one handed tiger seal was formed. Pain ripped through Itachi's left wrist, sending him hurling towards the ground. The pain felt like a thousand needles stabbing inside of his hand.

Rin was on top of him in the next moment, one hand pinning him down by the chest, while the other pressed the tip of the kunai against his throat.

But she couldn't find it in herself to do. Couldn't find the courage to kill him, just like she wasn't able to kill Obito. The tears spilling from her eyes dripped down from her chin, landing on the metal plate of Itachi's Anbu uniform.

Her hand shook as the tip of the kunai grazed the skin of his throat. Just a bit more force and it would be all over.

But she couldn't do it.

Her hold on the kunai loosened. Taking advantage of her weakness, Itachi swiped the kunai out of Rin's hand. Pushing her weight off of him, Itachi pinned her down onto the ground with enough force to knock the mask off of her face, revealing her tear stained cheeks.

Her large brown eyes were full of tears and resignation as Itachi pressed the cool metal against her throat.

"I suppose I was never destined to win," Rin murmured softly.

In his head, Itachi disagreed. If Rin didn't hesitate and went all out on him, Itachi would have been dead a long time ago.

And just like Rin, Itachi couldn't do it.

Instead his Sharingan spun, forming into the pattern of the Mangekyo. His eyes met Rin's and together they were pulled into the Tsukuyomi landscape.

Rin didn't even bother to fight the genjutsu, allowing her body to limply hang from the chains that kept her rooted to the cross.

"You must understand that the Uchiha planned to take down the Third Hokage first," Itachi told her, showing her his memory of a particular council meeting in which Itachi and Shisui were forced to betray Konoha by revealing the layout of the Hokage Tower and the weaknesses in his security measures.

"Then they would have attacked the Hyuga when they least expected it. Shisui and I were ordered to take out you and Kakashi. The Uchihas deemed the two of you our greatest oppositions in our quest for a successful coup."

At that, a false image was planted, playing out what would have happened if Team Ro was forced to turn on each other. All four of them were in the field, panting heavily as blood was splattered on all of their uniforms. Dried blood caked underneath their fingernails and in their hair. Weapons littered the ground. Trees knocked over, some burnt to a crisp. All of them out of chakra and standing on their feet out of sheer willpower.

All four of them were reluctant to deal the finishing blow.

"Why not?" Rin whispered. "You and Shisui would have won."

But at what cost was the lingering question on both of their minds.

"We couldn't allow that to happen," Itachi said. "Shisui and I swore to maintain peace. We tried every method that we could to keep the peace, and this was our final mission as shinobis of Konoha."

"A mission? How could the Third ask you and Shisui to slaughter your entire clan?"

"It was of our own will. Please do not try to stop us any further...allow us to live as a missing nin. If we ever shall cross paths in the future…"

"And what will you do now?"

"There has been word of a criminal organization forming. Shisui and I will infiltrate it and stop any harm to the village. To protect Konoha...we will do it until we draw our last breath."

"A mark of a true shinobi is to protect the village from the shadows," Itachi continued. "It does not matter how the village views us as long as peace is maintained. Please take care of Sasuke and Izumi for me. Get Kakashi to teach Sasuke the secrets to the Sharingan when he awakens it…"

Tears were streaming down phantom Itachi's face.

"I will leave Akemi and Momo in your care. Should you ever need to contact me, send one of them out and they will be able to find me. If I ever need to reach you, I will send one of my crows."

"So you rejected Izumi because…"

Itachi nodded. "It will be a heavy burden, but I ask that you keep this knowledge to yourself. Hatake might suspect, but please don't let anyone know the truth, especially Izumi and Sasuke."

"When I'm dead," Itachi added, choking on his words. "Tell the two of them that I will love them, always."

"Wha-"

"I'll run out of chakra soon. When I break the Tsukuyomi, it will put you in a one day coma." _So you can't come after me, _was the underlying message.

"I'm sorry, for everything."

That was the last thing that Rin heard before darkness claimed her.

* * *

"What took you so long?" Shisui asked as Itachi landed on the branch next to him.

"Ran into some...complications. She knows."

Shisui eyed Itachi's bleeding hand. "I see. How did she take it?"

"She won't be able to come after us," was Itachi's cryptic response. "It's time to go."

Both of them raised a single kunai to their forehead, drawing a slash across the Konoha leaf symbol. Two figures darted into the forest, leaving behind the place that they once called home.

Towards their new life.

As S class missing nins.

**END of PART ONE**

* * *

**A/N: Hiiiiiii. **

**Well this is the end of the first part of the story. Can't believe we've already got to this point! Don't worry though, there's a part 2 coming up. **

**So I guess you've figured out by now that Shisui was left alive because someone needed to help Itachi kill the Uchiha clan since Obito is dead. Izumi is alive, Sasuke isn't traumatized so I guess that's a start? This was so hard and sad to write, but I think we all knew it was coming with Danzo fueling the Uchihas' hatred once more with his tricks. **

**Second half of the story will cover post massacre spanning all the way to Shippuden era so there will be plenty of time skips to help speed the process along. Hope you guys will stick with me until the finish. :)**

**Next chapter will be called Peace?**

**As always, thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think and until next time!**

**-MM**


	26. Peace?

**Chapter Twenty Five: Peace?**

Was this what peace felt like?

When the word spread the next morning, everyone had varying reactions, but one sentiment was clear: crisis was averted.

But at what cost?

The two Konoha Elders had merely brushed off the issue as one that Shisui and Itachi should have undertaken as shinobis of Konoha, while Hiruzen disagreed with both of them. Hiruzen felt the same shock, the same sadness in his heart, even if he knew the news was coming. He constantly blamed himself for allowing this to happen under his term. If Minato was still here…

To say the Hyuga were pleased would be a lie. To say the Hyuga were sad, well they were not. The majority of the Hyuga remained apathetic towards the entire situation, as the clan never particularly liked the Uchiha clan to begin with. Still, they understood the political implications of the loss of the Uchiha clan. In the eyes of the other nations, Konoha was considered to be weakened. So the Hyuga began to train their shinobis even harder, to prepare for another attack.

Like they did for every major event, the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clan gathered together to pay their respects to their fallen Uchiha comrades. Though the Uchiha clan as a whole did not gain their respect, they each paid their respects to the few Uchihas that had gotten along with the rest of the village. For the young Uchihas that had been among their peers in the Academy or on their genin teams.

The Anbu spent the night clearing away the bodies, scrubbing away the blood from the structures as much as possible to restore it to its former glory. Yet the Uchiha compound felt like a complete ghost town, with occasional gusts of wind sweeping the leaves through the compound.

The other clans remained quiet about the entire situation. For those who wept for the fallen clan, they did so in silence.

The civilians didn't know what to think. The more disgruntled of the civilians kept their view that the Uchiha clan deserved what had befallen them. Others felt sorry for the innocent Uchihas caught in the fray. Others extended their sympathies to the two remaining Uchihas in the village. All of them remained blissfully ignorant of why the Uchiha clan even had to fall in the first place.

Izumi had taken the news the hardest, even more than Sasuke. Perhaps Sasuke's young mind couldn't really comprehend what happened aside from being told that his entire family was dead and that he wasn't allowed to return to the compound. When Sasuke asked about his brother, it was Izumi who told him through tears that Itachi was the killer.

Izumi proceeded to spend the next couple of hours hugging Sasuke tightly while she sobbed her eyes out. Akemi and Momo settled themselves around Izumi and Sasuke, offering them silent comfort.

The only other person to find out the truth was Kakashi, who took the news wordlessly. And proceeded to rant about how stupid Itachi and Shisui had been to keep the news to themselves. And how selfish for them to decide to keep Kakashi and Rin out of the loop.

But he understood why. He just wished it didn't have to turn out this way.

The following weeks were busy. From attending the funeral for the Uchihas - most clans sent the main family to pay their respects - to taking on more missions to compensate for their loss of numbers. Genin teams were shuffled around and combined to complete the three man cell where there were two. The Anbu took over acting as the police force once more, although most of them hated doing it.

All of the jonins in the village received a newly issued copy of the bingo book. No one had to open it to figure out who was added in there under the missing nin section. Kakashi merely shoved it into his weapons pouch, while Rin sealed hers away in one of her many storage scrolls.

Rin moved out of her apartment, cleaning up the place for Izumi and Sasuke to live in. Officially, Izumi became Sasuke's new guardian, but it was clear the two didn't interact much. While Izumi went on her missions, Sasuke was either out training or spending time with Naruto. In just a few months, Sasuke would be enrolled in the Academy, thus spending even less time at home.

Neither of them wanted to step foot into the Uchiha compound again. Kakashi and Rin had been sent to retrieve their belongings for them. Though she didn't voice it aloud, Rin knew the event traumatized Izumi to the point of unlocking her Mangekyo Sharingan. Kakashi told Izumi to come find him if she ever wanted to learn how to wield it.

She didn't bother to give him a response.

It pained Rin to see one of her best friends retreat back into her shell. She wouldn't open up, not to anyone, not even at the offering of dango. In fact, Izumi knocked away Rin's offering of dango the first time she tried, claiming that she didn't want anything associated with "that man."

Temporarily, Rin crashed at Kakashi's place until she got a place sorted out. Yet it didn't matter all that much because the two of them were rarely home, being sent on back to back missions.

Hiruzen tried to assign new squad members to Team Ro, but Kakashi rejected the notion, claiming that just the two of them would be just fine. And they were, as Kakashi and Rin continued to carry on Team Ro's 99% success rate.

Neither of them spoke all that much on their missions, as when they did, it would remind them once more of their comrade's absence. All of the formations, plans, and combos they made as Team Ro were thrown out and between the two of them, they started from scratch to compensate for their absences.

With mission after mission, they didn't have time to think. And that was just how they wanted it.

Soon, it became abundantly clear that darkness was slowly overtaking their hearts.

* * *

**A Year Later**

Gai plopped down in the seat across from Kurenai, Asuma, and Izumi in the dango shop. The latter had finally overcome her mild depression and reverted back to her usual self, much to Kurenai's relief. Though at times a nightmare would invade her dreams to haunt her and remind her of the Uchiha Massacre, Izumi soldiered through it and found her way out of the darkness. It had been thanks to the three friends that had taken her in as part of their group, as well as her former genin teammates.

Even Sasuke's presence had an effect on her. With the burden of being the guardian of a young boy, Izumi quickly realized that she needed to be a good role model for him when dark thoughts began to pervade Sasuke's mind. Izumi hoped that she was successfully able to chase all thoughts of revenge out of his mind and even solicited Naruto to stay at their place more often than not. With Naruto present, Sasuke would be too busy arguing with him to think about hunting down his brother.

It had gotten to the point where the blonde boy practically lived at their own place, after his caretaker refused to house him any further on the account that he was old enough to take care of himself now that he was at the Academy.

Sasuke had achieved his dream of entering the Academy, as did Naruto, but it felt empty. Empty when Sasuke and Naruto were the only two who didn't have their parents pick them up after the ceremony. Empty when Sasuke hoped to see his brother come, but remembered that Itachi was an S rank missing nin. Empty when Naruto hoped to see Rin and Kakashi there, but they haven't appeared at all. It had been over a year since Naruto had seen them at all.

But the two of them had each other and Izumi. Their uncanny friendship, although Sasuke would be pressed to admit it, kept them going through any obstacle.

While Izumi managed to pull herself out of the darkness, it seemed that Kakashi and Rin were on the fast track to spiralling down it. They had seen the signs in Kakashi when his father committed suicide, but Team Minato had rooted him in. They had seen the signs when Obito first died, but they had Minato and Kushina to root them in. They had seen the signs when Rin almost died, but Rin had rooted him in. They had seen the signs again when Kushina and Minato died, but they had Itachi and Shisui to root them in.

And the signs were appearing once more. But this time, there was no one around to ground them to reality. Not when they constantly pushed away anyone who cared.

Gai had been the first to complain that Kakashi didn't bother to agree to his challenges. The rare times that Kakashi was in the village and even rarer the times that Gai found him, Kakashi flat out rejected his challenges without hearing him out.

The last time that happened was back when they were ten years old. Over time, Kakashi had gradually warmed up to Gai and eventually started to accept his friendship and rivalry that came along with it. Nowadays, Kakashi would just try every trick in the book to avoid Gai, often abusing Rin's sensory skills to avoid the overbearing man. Or Kakashi would make up excuses as to why he didn't want to participate in the challenge. Or he would divert Gai's attention by proposing a simple game of rock-paper-scissors.

Not flat out say no before one word could leave Gai's mouth.

Asuma had a different story. "There's that cold look in his eyes again, like the one he used to have when he just entered the Anbu. I ran into him in the streets a couple of times and I tried to get his attention, but he just looks at me blankly and continues to walk away."

According to Asuma, who heard the information from his father, Kakashi and Rin continued to request for S rank mission after mission.

"I saw them once," Asuma told them. "When my dad is going over the mission details with them, they don't even bat an eye. One of their missions was to assassinate an S class missing nin and they didn't even seem to be a bit fazed. The two of them have completed all of the S class missions that the village has to offer."

"Is that normal?" Kurenai questioned. "I know they used to go on suicide missions all the time, but that was when they were a four man team. Three man team at their least."

Asuma shrugged. "My old man wanted to assign other members to Kakashi's squad, but he rejected it."

All that Kurenai and Izumi had to share was that Rin was nowhere to be seen. Either she wasn't in the village, or she was drowning herself at the hospital.

"The hospital staff has come to me to express their concerns about Rin," Izumi said. "She's always pulling double shifts, even after missions. And she looks so tired all the time, like she's about to fall over any minute."

"And Naruto complains all the time about them not going to visit him," Izumi continued. "I think the last time was a bit before that night happened."

Different stories, same sentiments. The two of them were ignoring everyone.

"They're going to get themselves killed," Kurenai said. "No matter how infallible the two think they are. I'm worried that something will happen to them before they realize it."

The four of them found themselves at the Hokage's office, catching Hiruzen as he had been standing by the window, staring out at Konoha. The four of them plead their case to the Hokage, citing that it wasn't healthy for them to remain in the Anbu any further.

The Hokage looked conflicted.

"Even if I forcibly discharge them, they won't let it go easily. I'm afraid of what other methods they will use to help themselves cope."

"Going on suicide missions after suicide missions isn't coping, Hokage sama," Izumi protested. "They're only twenty two! Besides Sasuke, they're the only family that I have left and I don't want to lose them too."

No one else wanted to lose them either.

"Perhaps another team," Kurenai suggested. "Their teammates have pulled them out of the darkness before, so maybe another team will help."

"A genin team then?" Hiruzen thoughtfully stroked his beard. "That is if they accept the burdens of being a jonin leader."

While the Hokage may agree with them, it seemed that there wasn't a suitable solution which wouldn't backfire on them.

"Then allow me to join the Anbu, Hokage sama!" Gai declared. "I believe I can pull my eternal rival out of the darkness!"

Before Hiruzen had the opportunity to gently inform Gai that his personality wasn't suited to be in the Anbu Black Ops - he didn't think Kakashi nor Rin were also suitable due to their kind hearts - the Anbu Commander rushed into the Hokage's office. In all of his years as Hokage, and during Minato's term as well, Hiruzen had never seen Wolf so flustered.

Without caring that there were non Anbu members present, Wolf proceeded to blurt out the information, while thrusting two pieces of paper at the Hokage.

"Hatake and Nohara submitted their resignations to me this morning!"

While Wolf was more concerned that two of his best Anbu operatives had resigned - the man was secretly hoping that Kakashi would take over his position as commander as he recently hit the ten year mark in service - the others were more relieved that Kakashi and Rin had seen the light. Hiruzen's eyes scanned their resignation letter, which contained nothing more than the usual pleasantries of serving under the Hokage and their wishes to be reinstated as part of the regular jonin forces.

No reason was mentioned for their resignation.

Hiruzen handed the two letters back to Wolf. "See to it that it gets processed and filed away. As of today, Team Ro is disbanded and Kakashi and Rin are to be placed back on the active mission roster."

Wolf didn't argue and teleported out of the room to do as the Hokage had asked.

Kakashi's ten year run in the Anbu was certainly impressive and Rin's six years weren't easily accumulated, but Hiruzen was glad that they had taken the matter into their own hands. The two of them were still young, still full of so much potential to lose themselves in the darkness that loomed over the Anbu.

"Looks like they're back."

* * *

This particular mission marked the one thousandth one completed under the status of Team Ro. While Kakashi nor Rin themselves had gone on all one thousand missions, each mission that they executed as Anbu, whether by themselves, in pairs, or as a full team, all counted towards their record. Between the four of them, they had racked up one thousand completed missions to their team name.

And that was when Rin began to wonder if it was time to quit.

With at least a tenth of those one thousand completed missions being marked as S ranked and a good third considered A ranked, it was a miracle that they were still alive. It was a miracle that their sanities were still partly intact.

Being in the Anbu was relentless. Even on days without missions, they still took on surveillance duty around the village. Even at times that were considered to be their breaks, they could still be called in at any time for an emergency. It felt like they had barely any time to breathe before they were being whisked away to complete their next task.

Only three days out of the week did Rin sleep in an actual bed, if not less. They were away from home so much that Rin hadn't even bothered to find a new apartment, not after moving out from her place. Even a year later, there were still some boxes piled up in the corner of Kakashi's apartment, still left unopened.

Seven days a week, one hundred and sixty eight hours in a week and Rin felt like she was working over one hundred of those hours. The only times that she had to rest were to sleep and to eat, and even then that was debatable. Was it really resting when they were perched on top of tree branches, attempting to sleep but also be on their guard for an unexpected ambush? Was it really resting when they ate food pills in the cold as they waited for their target to appear?

To put it simply, Rin was tired. Rin wanted - no, needed - a change, but she didn't want to ditch Kakashi in the Anbu by himself. Not when she knew the two of them were the only ones anchoring each other to reality.

As the client of their last mission told them, they were only twenty two. They still had a whole life ahead of them, if they didn't dwell on a shinobi's lower than average lifespan. If they didn't dwell on the fact that their careers as a shinobi typically ended between the ages of thirty to thirty five, save for the few, who take up important mantles in various departments of Konoha.

Yet neither of them really could imagine their life as a simple civilian.

At the same time, Rin's medical knowledge told her that they would be forced to become civilians by the age of twenty five if they didn't quit their current lifestyle of taking on high adrenaline, injury prone, suicide missions, one after another.

"I'm thinking about resigning from the Anbu," Rin stated out of the blue to Kakashi, who was sprawled all over his couch, flipping through the pages of a book that explained the theories of jutsu creation.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You know we can't go on like this forever and I think we've been stupid and selfish for long enough."

"You're right," Kakashi said, nodding. "In retrospect, the decisions that we made in the past year are pretty stupid. It's not like they're dead, just...with a bit of their reputation smeared."

What an understatement. Rin resisted the urge to let out a sarcastic chortle.

"Not just that," Rin admitted. "But I think this incident has made me realize that Konoha isn't all that innocent like I thought it was. I suppose that I was naive to think that Konoha wouldn't make their own shinobis to kill their own, to spread fake information to manipulate the public…"

"Ah. Let's resign then."

Kakashi had understood what Rin was trying to say because a small part of him felt the same way. Even if the Sandaime had mostly good intentions and kept the village's safety at the forefront of his mind, how could they really trust him? Were they going to be asked to assassinate Itachi and Shisui if word arrived that they had killed a Konoha shinobi regardless of the reason? Were they going to be asked to turn on their own, just like the villagers turned on his father, then the Uchiha clan? Neither of them wanted to stay in the Anbu long enough to find out.

And neither of them could forget that they were still living on borrowed peace.

But maybe, just maybe, the willingness to become the village's scapegoat was the epitome of what it meant to be a shinobi. To protect the village from the shadows is the mark of a true shinobi, as Shisui once said.  
Perhaps for once, the two of them just wanted a chance to be selfish. A chance to experience what the rest of the world had to offer. A chance to amend the broken friendships and make up for all of the lost time. A chance to accomplish their own goals and dreams.

A chance to properly live.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**Forgive me for forgetting to update last week; sadly, it's finals week :/. **

**Anyways, I've already written a good chunk of part 2 but I'm not sure how I feel about it lol. There's a couple of subplots that I never addressed, so I couldn't really end it at the last chapter, could I? :) Plus, my favorite chapter of the entire story is coming up in 2 chapters, so I'm super excited to share that one with you guys. **

**From here on out, there's going to be time skips but I won't necessarily mention "a year later" or so. I think you'll be able to figure it out based on how old Naruto/Sasuke are. And we are approaching the start of canon, but events won't necessarily follow canon. :) Any predictions on what will be changed?**

**Next chapter is called A Shinobi's Guide on How to Live a Proper Life.**

**Sorry for the boring chapter, but thanks so much for reading! You guys keep inspiring me to write more. :) I will diligently write once finals are over, I promise! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	27. A Shinobi's Guide

**Chapter Twenty Six: A Shinobi's Guide on How to Live a Proper Life **

A group of children were standing outside, forming a circle. At the center of the circle was Iruka Umino, who stood towering over all of the students, and two young boys: Naruto and Sasuke. One was known to be dead last in the class, always the ones with the worst grades, worst jutsu performance while the other was known to be a prodigy of their generation, who seemed to be good at everything. Yet it was still a toss up of who might win the match.

While one knew the textbook style taijutsu format down to all of the miniscule details and would get full marks for his stance and katas every time, the other had an unorthodox fighting style and an endless amount of stamina on his side. One was predictable; one was not. One expended just the right amount of energy to land the most fatal blows; one used his endless amount of stamina to land continuous blows.

No one knew who would win. It was the eighth official spar between the boys since entering the Academy. Sasuke had taken victory in the first match, while Naruto made a comeback in the second. Sasuke proceeded to figure out the weakness in Naruto's fighting style then trained himself to counter that. Then Naruto would come back with another unpredictable move to catch Sasuke off guard. Win-lose-win-lose and so on.

If the pattern held true, and Sakura Haruno liked seeing the patterns in things, then it would be Naruto's win.

On either side of her, there were two girls cheering for opposite sides. One was a loud mouth blonde, Ino Yamanaka, the beautiful heiress that wasn't afraid to make it known that she was rooting for Sasuke. The blonde girl also wasn't afraid to admit her undying love for the dark haired boy either, much to the boy's annoyance, but her declaration helped to ward away some of the more timid girls' affections. On the other side of her, there was the Hyuga heiress, who unlike the Yamanaka girl, was staring quietly as the spar proceeded. A slight blush colored her cheeks as she pressed her two pointer fingers together, anxiously. Her eyes were downcasted onto the dirt, only lifting her head up to watch the spar, in a manner that suggested Hinata felt like she was snooping.

Aside from Hinata, Sakura was sure that she was the only other female in the class who wasn't openly rooting for a certain boy to win. In fact, Sakura secretly hoped for Naruto to win, just to keep the pattern going.

Patterns were good; patterns kept things predictable. But patterns didn't tell Sakura Haruno that there would be another female who didn't root for either side.

The woman was leaning against the trunk of the particular tree that had a swing attached. Her arms were folded across her flak jacket, her brown eyes fixated on Naruto and Sasuke's spar. Though Sakura was still young, she saw something akin to guilt and regret in the woman's eyes as she seemed to relish in the elongating shadows as the sun changed positions. Sakura didn't miss the soft smile that played on the woman's lips, the quirk of the corner of her mouth as Naruto pulled one of his unpredictable moves, and the soft sigh that she emitted when the spar ended in a draw.

At that point, Sakura wasn't even concerned that the pattern was broken. No, she was more curious about the mysterious woman, who seemed to know either Naruto or Sasuke or both. The hitai-ate on her forehead indicated that she was a Konoha shinobi, but she wasn't an Academy teacher, so why was she here?

And why was she turning to leave without saying anything?

While Iruka was busy ushering the rest of the students back into the classroom, Sakura tugged at the bottom of his right sleeve, garnering the friendly man's attention. After pushing along the rowdy Inuzuka heir and Naruto into the direction of the classroom, Iruka bent down to look at the pink haired girl eye to eye.

"What is it?"

Sakura pointed in the direction of the mysterious woman's retreating back. Her back was still visible to them, and as far as Sakura knew, that meant the mysterious woman wasn't in any hurry to leave. According to the Academy textbooks, shinobis had the capability of disappearing in the time interval of a blink of an eye.

"She was watching the spar the whole time," Sakura informed him. Iruka craned his next to follow the direction in which her small finger was pointed at.

"I see. Go back to class, alright?" Iruka gave her a light pat on the shoulder, gesturing in the direction of the classroom before he stood up, jogging lightly to catch up with the mysterious woman.

Sakura knew that she should have followed the rules and gone back, but curiosity got the best of her, so darted to hide behind one of the trees, just within earshot of the two shinobi's conversation.

Even with her advanced knowledge, there were some words thrown around that Sakura didn't really understand, but it was abundantly clear to her that the conversation revolved around Naruto. If Sakura was interpreting the conversation correctly, then Iruka sensei hated Naruto? And the woman was trying to convince him otherwise?

Eavesdropping on the conversation raised entirely too many questions for the young girl.

Iruka was thoroughly surprised when one of his students pointed out the retreating backside of Rin Nohara. Though he had never really met the woman face to face, other than in passing, her reputation preceded her. Every shinobi knew of her and Kakashi Hatake. Right after the Uchiha Massacre, there had been nasty rumors floating around that the two even aided the Uchiha cousins in the act, but pushed all of the blame onto the Uchihas.

At the time, Iruka had been a newly promoted chunin, just a little under a year, so he wasn't all that privy to the chunin gossip, much less the jonin one. It had taken a lot of time for him to gather information about their legendary status, of how they were once a team.

The nasty rumors continued during that time. The disapproving jonins lectured their genins about the detrimental effects of spreading false rumors. Iruka's own jonin sensei even let it slip that he thought the rumors were the reason why the two of them hated being in the village, why they constantly requested the hardest and most suicidal missions. The older generation simply lamented the fact this seemed to be a repeat of what happened to Sakumo Hatake all of those years ago. Many were worried that his own son would crumble under the same pressure.

The rumors began to subside as the shinobis gained newfound respect for the pair for eliminating some of the largest threats to Konoha, including two of the Legendary Swordsman of the Mist. The rumors were never mentioned again as it was heard that Rin Nohara had attempted to kill Itachi Uchiha the night of the massacre.

From there, a massive pile of both Kakashi and Rin's achievements were uncovered, pointing towards their allegiance to the village, including their roles in protecting the village from the Kyuubi attack.

By the time the rumors died completely, the damage was still done. The two had alienated themselves from Konoha, even if they still worked on the behalf of the village.

So to call Iruka surprised to see her in the village, much less at the Academy, was an understatement. What was even stranger was Iruka gathering the courage to go up and approach the woman.

When Iruka called her name, her steps faltered. A lapse between Iruka getting her attention and when Rin finally decided to turn around spanned a total of one minute. One long, agonizing minute for Iruka, who wondered if he was the cause of the awkwardness. One long, agonizing minute for Rin, who was still deciding if she was worthy of facing Naruto's sensei and thus reestablishing their once fragile relationship.

But she and Kakashi vowed they would live a proper life from there on out and it wasn't like Rin was facing Naruto himself, so she eventually turned around to face the newly minted Academy instructor.

"Iruka Umino, right?" Her voice was soft and hesitant, almost like she was unsure of his name. In reality, it was more like she was unsure if she wanted to speak to him at all.

"Right. Uhm," Iruka was unsure of how to continue the conversation, reaching to rub the back of his neck nervously. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"If you could watch over Naruto…"

"The Kyuubi container?"

As an Academy instructor, Iruka was to remain impartial and he really did try. But every time he saw the blonde boy, his mind couldn't help but flash back to the night of the Kyuubi attack. Unwilling, his mind made the association between the two and now he couldn't look at the young boy as anything but the one who killed his parents.

It wasn't fair to the boy, Iruka knew, and he thought about submitting a request to switch him to a different class, but he wasn't sure how to even begin wording the request to the Hokage. For almost two years, the boy was still in his class and Iruka did his best to ignore him. But it was hard when everything he did practically begged for attention…

"He has a name, you know. His name is Naruto Uzumaki." There were no hints of anger in her voice, just disappointment.

"I know, but I think of all the people, you can understand that I can't see him as anything other than the Kyuubi container. Not when the Kyuubi took both of my parents away from me in the attack."

When did Iruka become this bold?

"The Kyuubi is the Kyuubi and Naruto is Naruto. They are two different beings that simply coexist in the same body. It is simply ignorant and foolish of you to see the boy as a murderer when in fact, he is a hero. If not for him, where would the Kyuubi go? Perhaps still destroying Konoha until there is nothing left but a pile of rubble."

"I know that, it's just that I don't know how I'm supposed to face him."

Rin shot him a glance. "I suppose you should treat him as you would with any other Academy student. As an orphan, all he really wants is someone to care about him. Just like how his parents cared for me. As his Academy teacher, well...I would say he looks up to you the most."

"But what about you and Kakashi san? Are you not…?"

She shook her head sadly. "A lot of things have happened, but...neither of us are deserving of his forgiveness."

"Naruto is a very open minded, kind hearted child. I'm sure that he will forgive you and Kakashi san…"

Rin smiled wryly. "For someone who claims that they don't know how to face Naruto, you sure understand him a lot."

Iruka flushed at her comment.

"Regardless," Rin continued, her eyes fixated on something over his shoulder. Iruka resisted the urge to look. "Thank you for taking care of him. The most that we can do now is to look after him from afar."

"I understand."

"Well, I better get going." With that Rin turned around, ready to walk away from the Academy once more. "By the way, one of your cute students is stalking you."

By the time Iruka turned his head around to look at who was behind him, Rin was already gone. The swirl of leaves were the only indication that she had even been there in the first place.

Sakura had wisely chosen to scamper back into the Academy classroom before Iruka sensei caught her. She took the last open seat, next to Naruto right as Iruka returned back to the classroom, ready to start the next lecture.

For the first time since starting the Academy, Sakura's attention wasn't focused on the lecture. Instead, her mind drifted to the conversation that she eavesdropped on. In particular, her mind was fixated on the bittersweet expression that the woman had. From what Sakura could gather, it was her who had done something to Naruto and didn't expect forgiveness, but for what?

There was no way to find out other than asking the person in question, who happened to be sitting next to her.

When the lecture let out, Naruto was the first to leap out of his seat, dashing towards the doorway, muttering something about food. Sakura quickly followed, catching him right as he exited the Academy, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention.

His round blue eyes blinked rapidly as he stared at her. "Eh, Sakura chan?"

"Ne, Naruto, I wanted to ask you something."

A growl from Naruto's stomach tore his attention away from Sakura. "Sorry about that, haha…"

Sakura reached for one of her boxes of lunch, pressing it into Naruto's hands. She had originally made the extra to share with Ino, as a show of gratitude for helping her stand up against her bullies the other day, but she couldn't ignore a starving boy.

The two of them sat down in a particular spot underneath one of the many trees surrounding the Academy. After thanking her once more, Naruto split the chopsticks in half before digging in. Besides him, Sakura ate her lunch at a more moderate pace, while Naruto seemed to almost inhale his food.

"So what was it you were saying?" Naruto asked, his mouth full of food.

"I was just wondering if you know a lady with long, brown hair? I saw her watching you and Sasuke spar and she seemed kind of sad, so I was just curious as to why."

Naruto swallowed his food as he seemed to ponder thoughtfully about her question.

"Maybe it's Izumi nee. She's the teme's cousin."

Sakura didn't even need to ask who _teme _was referring to. Naruto's loud outbursts during class, usually incited by Sasuke's avoidance or a scathing remark, made it abundantly clear to the rest of the class.

"Are you sure? The lady was talking about you the whole time with Iruka."

At this, Naruto's interest peaked. "Really? Do you know who she is?"

Sakura shook her head sadly. "Her name never came up in the conversation, but someone called Kakashi san was mentioned? Do you happen to know him?"

Naruto fell quiet and didn't bother to answer her question. Instead he continued to ask Sakura questions. "What did the lady say?"

And so Sakura told him based on her own interpretation of the conversation. She omitted the part about the Kyuubi because she wasn't sure what that was, but informed Naruto that Iruka sensei admitted that he didn't know how to face him. The mysterious woman gave him advice, before thanking him for taking care of Naruto. Then finally, Sakura reached the part where the woman said she didn't deserve Naruto's forgiveness.

The look in the woman's eyes had been so haunting that Sakura couldn't forget it even if she tried.

"I see. Thank you for telling me, Sakura chan."

And that had been the last of the conversation. Sakura effectively got zero information out of Naruto, and she knew better than to push him.

For the rest of the day, Naruto was so quiet, looking like he was lost in his own thoughts that it was almost strange to not hear his boisterous voice contribute to the chatter in the classroom. Even Sasuke looked slightly concerned at his silence, from the way the dark haired boy who sneak glances when Naruto wasn't looking.

Naruto didn't notice, but Sakura did.

Who said she wasn't observant?

* * *

"You should take a break," Rin advised Kakashi, who was very tired. "At the rate you are going, you'll collapse from chakra exhaustion before you figure out the jutsu."

Kakashi plopped down next to her on the grass, his hand reaching for one of the canteens of water. He mistakenly took hers, but by the time Rin cared enough to notice, Kakashi had already downed half of the contents down his throat and was in the middle of placing his mask back into place.

Rin sighed as her eyes flickered back to the formula seal she was working on. With all of her attempts combined, this had to be around her nine hundred something attempt. But she was getting closer with each attempt, so close that she could feel it.

"Any progress?"

"Shhh," was her response as she finished the final stroke on the formula seal. Dipping the paintbrush back into the ink holder, Rin began to roll the seal over one of her senbon. She didn't really expect any results, but Rin tossed the senbon away from her anyways.

Then she closed her eyes, feeling for a prickle to her senses, just like Minato sensei had described. According to him, all of the seals and places he marked turned into a blinking dot in his mind map. All he needed to do was concencentrate his chakra towards one blinking dot and the rest was history.

Rin felt it. Latching onto the feeling, she began to channel her chakra there. In the next moment, her eyes snapped open and she found herself now sitting ten meters away from Kakashi.

Picking up her senbon from the ground, Rin ran back to where Kakashi was, still slightly in shock. Completely disregarding Kakashi's dislike of physical contact, Rin jumped into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders while laughing happily in his ears.

While Kakashi's first instinct would be to normally push her away, her touch didn't feel foreign to him anymore. While Kakashi would normally be irritated at having someone this close to him, her laugh sounded like music to his ears.

"We did it!" Rin exclaimed excitedly.

The warmth and comfort of Rin's touch immediately vanished when rolled off of him, unwrapping the sealing formula once more. From that point, Rin began to babble on about the intricacies of each stroke and how she manipulated it to fit her chakra mold. She was saying something about adapting it so that Kakashi could use the Hiraishin as well.

But he wasn't really listening to what she was saying.

All he could concentrate on was how excited she had been, to give credit to him as well for the technique, even when Rin did 95% of the work. All he could focus on was the way she slightly cocked her head to the side as her mouth babbled on. All he could see was the radiant smile on her face.

And that was when Kakashi realized it: he wanted to always be the first person that Rin came to.

Regardless of the reason.

* * *

It was Rin who reminded him that Naruto's birthday was coming up. His own had passed last month, and they had a small get together for the first time in a few years. The details were a bit hazy, as Kakashi did agree to another one of Gai's drinking challenges, but he remembered the important things.

When they first started, Kakashi swore he heard Rin grumble something about "not again." Some time through the drinking contest, Kakashi overheard Rin complaining to Izumi about how she had to haul both of their drunk asses back home last time. Something about how heavy he had been to carry up the steps of her stairs.

Right then and there, Kakashi decided to throw the challenge, much to Gai's outrage. Though very drunk, Gai was no slop and was the first to call out Kakashi for letting him win. He remembered making some bullshit excuse as to why he was quitting, but for the life of him, he couldn't really remember what it was. All he could recall was Gai insisting that this challenge didn't count in his favor because Kakashi had purposely lost and would seek him out for a different challenge another day.

Then Gai promptly collapsed, hitting his head loudly against the table.

It was Kakashi who ended up carrying an unconscious Gai home, while Rin walked with him as Kakashi's apartment was in the same direction as Gai's home.

"At the rate both of you were going, you could have easily won, you know. So why did you throw the challenge?" Trust Rin to ask him all of the hard questions.

"Ah well, I didn't really feel like it." Kakashi knew that Rin saw right through his bullshit, but hadn't pressed the matter any further.

Kakashi didn't regret his decision when he woke up the next day with only a small headache.

At the mention of Naruto's birthday, it reminded Kakashi that Rin's own was coming up next month. Perhaps he was a terrible friend, but he barely remembered her birthday most years until Izumi or Kurenai mentioned it. In his defense, he even forgets about his birthday until someone mentions it.

But in recent years, Kakashi had burned one date into his mind: November 15th. September 15th was his birthday, but that didn't matter as much. He had Rin to remind him of that. And she needed someone to remind her of hers.

While Rin dragged him through the Konoha market to look for a gift for Naruto, Kakashi's eye were sweeping the items for an idea of a gift for Rin. He paid special attention to everything that Rin looked at, but it seemed that all of the items were potential gifts for Naruto and not actually what she was interested in.

"What do almost eight year old boys even like?" Rin asked as Kakashi approached.

"Ahhh well at that age I was already a chunin so weapons, or being taught a new jutsu."

"That's so unhelpful."

Kakashi shrugged. "Well you asked."

Out of ideas, Rin walked into the weapons shop at one point. One look however changed her mind as she figured that everything in the shop was too dangerous for him to use. And at this point, Naruto would have already owned his own kunai and shurikens.

Speaking of kunais…

"Why don't we just give him sensei's kunai?"

"I want to save them for when we are on speaking terms," Rin told him, her eyes still roaming around the market in search of a perfect gift. "When I give it to him, I want to tell him all about his father and mother."

Right as she finished speaking, both of their eyes landed on a pair of green goggles.

"The goggles…"

On the morning of October 10th, Naruto yawned as he lazily swung his legs off of his bed. Tossing his blanket off his torso, Naruto wearily ambled his way to the bathroom, where he began his morning routine.

He didn't really want to go to the Academy and listen to boring lectures, but it was better than staying in an empty apartment by himself. Besides, Naruto consoled himself with the fact that he was going to go out for Ichiraku ramen right after class to celebrate his birthday. And Sasuke had promised to teach him some shuriken throwing tricks…

When he stepped into the kitchen, his eyes began to blink rapidly. Was...there a package on the table? Maybe a bomb?

Naruto approached it with caution, like a real ninja would. With his pointer finger, Naruto poked at the plainly wrapped package. Nothing happened. Plopping down in his seat, Naruto made quick work of tearing away the paper to find a new pair of goggles enclosed. A note was attached that simply wished him Happy Birthday.

His eyes began to tear up as fat drops of water dripped down his face and landed onto the wrapping paper.

_Someone remembered! Someone cared! _

But who?

From a nearby rooftop, Rin and Kakashi watched as Naruto pulled the goggles over his head, right on his forehead. It would eventually be replaced by his hitai-ate, but that was alright. The two of them darted across the rooftops, showing up at the Hokage Tower exactly thirty three minutes late.

It had been worth it.

* * *

On the morning of November 15th, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen, no doubt at the memorial stone. That wasn't the strange part.

The strange part was that there was breakfast on the table, still warm.

There was a note on the table wishing her Happy Birthday in Kakashi's familiar lazy scrawl.

A smile was present on her face for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Maybe it's time for me to move out." Rin expected her comment to be met with Kakashi's usual apathy, but she was in for a surprise when Kakashi practically bolted off of the couch, dropping his book on the floor.

"But why?" There was a mixture of whininess, which Rin hadn't heard from Kakashi since he was a chunin, and reluctance. Did he really care that much about whether or not she lived with him? It wasn't like they wouldn't ever see each other again; they would still see each other more often than not, as they were still constantly placed on the same teams or would meet up to train on their off days.

"Wouldn't want to cramp on your bachelor lifestyle. The first year was because we were never really in the village to begin with and then the second, well I guess it just slipped my mind that you have your own life too."

"You know," Rin continued to babble. "You should have told me to move out earlier. I wouldn't have been offended, I promise. And besides-"

"I didn't ask you to move out because I wanted you to stay."

Kakashi figured that there was no time like the present. Usually he preferred to beat around the bush with his words, and usually Rin knew him well enough to understand his true meaning, but he went with the direct approach this time. If he didn't, Kakashi suspected that he would let Rin slip through his fingers again.

"Are you sure you don't want me around to save on bills?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I haven't asked you to split bills or rent with me in the last two years, have I?"

Kakashi: 1. Rin: 0.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You just want to leech off of my cooking, right?"

"Don't I do that anyways, even before you lived with me?"

Kakashi: 2. Rin: 0.

"Ah! You just want me around so that you don't have to do chores anymore, am I right?"

"My clone is perfectly capable of doing my chores for me. No need for you to dirty your hands."

Kakashi: 3. Rin: 0.

"What is it then? Spit it out." When her arms were folded across her chest like that, Kakashi knew Rin meant business. He had approximately two minutes before her patience wore out.

"Is it so hard to believe that I want to spend the rest of my life with you?"

"As more than friends," Kakashi clarified, upon seeing the confusion etched across her face. "I mean I think we were always more than friends to begin with. And I know I said a lot of dumb things to you as a teenager and I wish I could take them back, but I think I realize what I was trying to deny back then.

"And I know I'm a boring person. All I really do is eat, sleep, train, and go on missions. And I'm sorry if every conversation starter I ever had has something to do with missions or training because I don't know what else to say. Heck, I'm not even sure what is coming out of my mouth right now."

"Just shut up and kiss me."

And Kakashi did. Who was he to disobey her orders?

For all of the things that Kakashi was known for, nobody ever said that he was a romantic. But that didn't matter to Rin.

She wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again! **

**Ahh this chapter. It'll become more evident later on, but Sasuke isn't his canon self and I think it's justified he's less hell bent on revenge because a)Itachi never incited his hatred by putting him in the Tsukuyomi b) Sasuke still has Izumi c) Sasuke has Naruto as a friend. The rivalry between the two of them is still there of course because this wouldn't be Naruto and Sasuke without any rivalry lol. As for Sakura, as you can tell, I changed her personality because I wasn't about to write a fangirl into my story haha. I figured if she didn't have eyes for Sasuke all the time, then she would be the quiet, intelligent, observant type, but that's just me. **

**The story of the green googles! I honestly had no idea what I was going make the gift be until I remembered the googles and thought it would be perfect for the occasion. **

**Ah and the romance, not my strongest suit and not the focus of this particular fic, but I figured they deserved a moment before the plot starts to ramp back up. **

**Next chapter aka my favorite chapter is coming up soon! Excited to share with you. It's called They're My Idiots. :) **

**As always, thanks for reading. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	28. They're My Idiots

**Chapter Twenty Seven: They're My Idiots**

It started off as a joke. If they were to be technical, and if anyone figured out what was going through the mind of an enigmatic Kakashi Hatake, then they would have to get technical.

So it actually started off as an A ranked mission.

Gai had recently been promoted to jonin status upon his performance in the most recent jonin exams. It was known to the entirety of the village that one of Gai's goals was to become a jonin sensei. Now that he was promoted to jonin, he made sure to announce that fact to everyone.

Yet his inexperience in leading a team kept Hiruzen from putting him in the pool as a potential jonin sensei. Perhaps next year, Gai would have enough experience to be a capable jonin instructor.

Upon hearing that his name hadn't been put in the pool, Gai had demanded to be given an opportunity to remediate his deficiency in leadership skills. Under normal circumstances, Hiruzen wouldn't have obliged to his request, because if he obliged to every shinobi's demands then he wouldn't have any authority anymore, but with the youthful man barging into his office everyday to demand a mission, Hiruzen couldn't get any work done either.

And might as the Anbu try, they were no match for the youthful man's seemingless endless energy.

So Hiruzen came up with a solution. It had been perfect in his mind, but of course he should have counted in Kakashi's resistance to his proposal. It had taken a little badgering on Hiruzen's end, "a lot" was probably a more accurate description, but in the end, the deal was exchanged.

On the next ten missions that Kakashi was assigned to, Gai would act as their leading squad commander, with Kakashi to watch him and take over if needed. He would report back to the Hokage on Gai's progress, from which Hiruzen would determine if Gai needed to be sent on more missions as leader. In that case, Kakashi adamantly protested that he refused to take Gai on any more missions and he had done his deed.

The first few missions were some solo missions that Kakashi had lined up for himself, now turned into duo missions. One of the first of many requests was that he would receive the entirety of the mission's pay and Gai's portion would just have to be taken out of the Hokage's funds.

Hiruzen was hesitant to agree to that, since it would show blatant favoritism, but when Kakashi began to make up excuses about not having any money to feed his dogs, or buy gifts for Naruto, or take his girlfriend out on a date, he agreed to just stop the bullshit spewing out of the Copy nin's mouth. After all, it was well known that Kakashi made one of the highest salaries in the village due to his notorious reputation.

The second request was simple enough. He wanted himself and Rin to have access to the Hokage archives once more. Something about needing the invaluable information to help him finish creating his new jutsu. That, Hiruzen could believe if the burn marks on his hands were any indication. He agreed. It wasn't like they weren't privy to the sensitive information in there as they had open access to the archives for years.

To Kakashi, it had seemed like a good bargain at the time, but as he slowly embarked on these missions, Kakashi wished that he hadn't agreed in the first place.

Infiltration mission? Completely botched by Gai's lack of stealth and incompetency to give suitable orders. What kind of ninja suggested making a dynamic entry in a mission that required secrecy?

Escort mission? The formation that Gai proposed was sloppy, left too many blind spots for the enemy to attack and kill their client. Even the chunins on the mission had been skeptical of Gai's orders that they chose not to follow it. And while Gai did single handedly take out all of the attackers, Gai had jumped into fighting. No orders given to his teammates, either in the moment or beforehand.

The third mission had been slightly bearable because Kurenai served as a buffer between himself and Gai. She was the more patient of the two, carefully explaining to Gai the flaws in his plans and formations, while Kakashi couldn't really be bothered.

No one ever said Kakashi was fit to be a sensei anyways.

By the end of the fourth mission, Kakashi recommended Hiruzen to reconsider making Gai a jonin sensei. Sure, Gai had the capabilities, skills, and on occasion, the smarts necessary of a jonin, but his tactical knowledge and analytical skills left something to be desired.

From there, Gai was temporarily taken off of the missions with Kakashi - much to his delight as Rin turned out to be his replacement - and placed on various teams so that Gai could observe and learn how to lead a team.

The progress was slow, but it was working, marginally.

By the next time it was time to submit jonin names into the pool, Gai's leadership skills still weren't up to par.

It started off as a comment that Asuma proposed in passing, but the idea had some merit. Kakashi was Gai's self declared eternal rival. At this point in time, Kakashi did reciprocate that notion and their current score was an even 31 to 31.

What better way to help speed up Gai's process by putting Kakashi's name among the pool? Surely when Gai saw that his eternal rival had the possibility of getting a genin team before him, Gai would work towards his goal with a new vigor.

The idea sounded great in theory, but the real problem was the man in question. Everyone knew that Kakashi didn't have any desire for a genin team and probably wouldn't be that suited as he was notorious for his unorthodox teaching methods and he was still a bit jaded from all of his traumatic experiences.

The only kids that Kakashi got along with were Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. The latter was practically a child prodigy, just like Kakashi himself, so it wasn't hard to get along with the sole Uchiha survivor. As for Naruto, they only got along because Kakashi kept dangling the prospect of teaching him a cool jutsu, but kept making excuses to push it off much to the boy's annoyance.

And as far as anyone knew, not every Academy student fit the mold of being a child prodigy or downright gullible, so the chances of Kakashi getting genin that he wouldn't get along with were...high.

So Asuma merely brought up the idea to the white haired man trying to pass it off as a joke, but he was really testing the waters, never in a million years did Asuma expect to get the response that he did.

"Okay."

Asuma blinked twice and even pinched himself on the arm to make sure he wasn't under a genjutsu. "Okay?"

"It's not like they're going to pass anyways."

And that was how Kakashi Hatake found his name on the list to become jonin instructors. Many parents were displeased at the prospect that their child could be assigned to Kakashi, knowing his reputation, there was less than a 1% chance of their child passing. On the other hand, the jonins had mixed reactions. Some were mildly amused, even starting a betting pool to see how many teams Kakashi would fail with his unorthodox teaching methods before a team managed to impress him. Others were worried that his ruthlessness on the field would translate into teaching, thus unnecessarily failing the genins before they were even given a chance to prove themselves. A small portion simply believed that Kakashi flat out had no teaching capabilities.

And Kakashi himself would say that their worries were unfounded...but they were probably true. Teaching had never been his forte, much less teaching genins. He simply didn't have the patience nor the energy to patiently explain every single detail. He was the type to gloss over the major points and allow the other party to figure it out themselves.

What he would argue though was that Kakashi believed himself to be a fair man. When he saw his name printed on top of three genins, Kakashi instantly knew that he was going to use the bell test. Unorthodox, they say? Well that was too bad.

He had to keep Minato sensei's legacy going after all.

And a fair chance? Kakashi would say that the bell test gave the three genins more than a fair chance. All they needed to do was figure out the meaning of the exercise. Simple.

Or so he thought.

The first year he gave the bell test; he had high hopes for his new team. According to the files, all three of them weren't exceptional in the Academy, but above average with a good work ethic. There were no mentions of their dynamic, but it was noted that they had gotten along relatively well with the other students and didn't cause any trouble. Average intelligence, but Kakashi could work with that.

If Kakashi didn't have ridiculously high standards, this would be his dream team. Not too troublesome, not too stupid, not too aggressive, not too lazy. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Until he introduced the bell test.

His hopes for them waned slightly, but still remained intact at the beginning when all three boys attacked him individually. That was expected, heck if history were to repeat itself based on his time on Team Minato, the three would attack individually until they realized they couldn't defeat him alone.

Then, it could go one of two ways. Either two of them form an alliance to get the bells or all three of them would work together. Kakashi secretly hoped for the latter, but the former wouldn't be a bad start.

And then those stupid, idiotic genin had to go and shatter all of Kakashi's hopes by turning on each other.

_Fight each other to determine who goes back to the Academy, _they said.

_Save Kakashi sensei the trouble, _they said.

They were all idiots.

Before the three genins could rush at each other, Kakashi threw a smoke bomb straight in the middle of their circle. The impact was more than enough to knock all three of them flat on their backs. With a steely look in his eyes, Kakashi announced that all of them were going back to the Academy.

The three genins didn't look too pleased at being stripped of their newly acquired status, but Kakashi couldn't give a damn.

Of all of the scenarios, he hadn't expected them to turn on each other.

When Kakashi reported that his team failed, it didn't escape his notice that there was some money being exchanged behind his back. The gossip started up again, but if Kakashi let words get to him, well he would have been dead over two decades ago.

At the end of the day, Kakashi went home and Rin naturally inquired about his genin team. Kakashi only had one response.

"They're a bunch of idiots."

* * *

The second year that Kakashi Hatake's name was in the pool to become jonin instructor was a combination of many things. First, Gai was finally on par with his leadership skills, enough for Hiruzen to trust him to lead a genin team, so his name was placed alongside Kakashi's. Second, Gai challenged Kakashi to see who would train stronger genins and Kakashi accepted just for the heck of it. After all, he was almost certain that either him or Gai or both wouldn't pass their genin this time, so he would get out of a challenge with little effort required. Third, Kakashi had simply been too lazy (and missed the deadline) to withdraw his name from the pool.

After the first...disaster, to put it lightly, Kakashi didn't come in with any hopes or expectations this time. He glazed over their Academy profile with disinterest. He didn't even care that the three genins were all brothers, who got along. He didn't care that one of them was the top of their graduating class in terms of intelligence. He didn't care that they were relatively trouble free. He didn't care about any of that because it would give him hope and hope was a dangerous thing.

With hope came disappointment.

When Kakashi signalled for them to begin, the three brothers retreated into the covers of the trees. Most likely to plan and Kakashi happily obliged them by choosing a spot under a tree to take a quick nap. Of course, his senses were still on high alert.

They had taken a lot longer than Kakashi anticipated, but that was easily amenable. Kakashi was even marginally impressed that the three of them coordinated their attacks, one from above, and the other two at his sides. Leaving a clone in his place, Kakashi took off towards the trees to observe their dynamic.

Kakashi may have tricked Minato sensei into thinking that they were working as a team back then, but he was going to make extra sure that these kids weren't fooling him. That was his responsibility, as shinobi of the village and a potential jonin sensei.

In just thirty seconds, Kakashi figured out their problem. Their teamwork was flawless, textbook style, but it became abundantly clear who was the spearhead. When the other two were at a loss of what to do, they automatically turned towards the oldest brother, who would give them instructions.

Stupid instructions, Kakashi would claim, that the younger ones should have protested against. But they stupidly followed their elder brother's cue and earned a kick to the chest by clone Kakashi, sending them flying back a good few meters.

Their reliance was unsettling. Any capable ninja needed to be able to make split second decisions of their own accord. In battle, the two younger ones wouldn't have time to turn to their elder brother for instructions. That moment of hesitation would be enough to get them killed on their first C ranked mission.

And as a jonin of Konoha, Kakashi couldn't let that happen.

On the account of their teamwork, Kakashi opted to give them a second chance. He tied the eldest to the trunk of the tree, ordering the younger two to eat lunch. They weren't allowed to give their oldest brother any lunch or they would all fail. Then he left, silently watching them from the trees.

Another trap, but a shinobi needed to be able to see underneath the underneath.

There was promise in the three genins as Kakashi spied them in a heated debate. The younger brothers were tempted to feed his brother lunch, even moving his bento box closer to the older brother.

There was hope...until the blasted older brother opened his mouth and told his brothers to follow the rules. There was hope until the younger brothers obediently listened to their brother.

There wasn't hope.

All of them were sent back to the Academy.

And so when Rin inquired about his genin team for the second time, Kakashi could really describe them as one thing.

"They're a bunch of idiots."

* * *

The following year, it seemed that Asuma and Kurenai, who was recently promoted to jonin, had taken an interest in leading a genin team as well. Kakashi chalked it up to mostly Gai's influence, who constantly bragged about how great his team was or told them of all of the wonderful times that they had together.

Kakashi was more concerned that one of the boys on his team had turned out to be a carbon copy of him. At least the Hyuga and the kunoichi had some sense to not follow Gai's footsteps as well.

At this point, Izumi had become a jonin as well, with her expertise in genjutsu and poisons courtesy of both Kurenai and Rin's influence, as well as her previous aptitude in taijutsu. When asked if she wanted to become a jonin sensei as well, Izumi promptly declined, stating that she hadn't had her fill of freedom like they had.

Most of the missions that she took were limited to inside the Land of Fire as she had Sasuke to look after and couldn't be away for long periods of time. Now that Sasuke was due to graduate this year, Izumi was free of the burden. To put it simply, Izumi wanted to explore the freedom that long term missions had to offer.

Rin warned Izumi that the appeal of long term missions quickly wore out after the first few, but Izumi was insistent. Guess Izumi would find out soon enough.

As for Rin, she declined a second time, stating that she already had her hands full with the program she started at the hospital to train medical ninjas.

"I'd rather train people in my field of expertise," Rin told them. "Among my jutsu arsenal, there's not much I can teach those kids unless they have exceptional chakra control."

And it was true. As far as Kakashi knew, the only thing that didn't require decent chakra control to learn were the water jutsus that Rin possessed and a handful of wind jutsus. That was about it.

Even to learn the Hiraishin, Kakashi had spent a great deal of effort to refine his own chakra control. Part of it was due to the higher demand of chakra control in regards to using fuinjutsu in battle. The other part was because Rin had found a way to help increase his chakra reserves, but demanded higher chakra control to be able to pull it off.

A work in progress, but he was almost there.

As for why Kakashi kept his name in the pool this year, well it was simple. A small part of him hoped to have either Naruto or Sasuke assigned to his own genin squad. In a perfect world, he would have both of them on their team and another person, preferably someone with a Rin like personality, to balance the two clashing forces.

It was almost reminiscent of his old team. An homage even.

But of course, even if Kakashi did get either of them, he would remain completely partial. Teamwork or no teamwork, it was that simple.

Worst case scenario, Kakashi would be saddled with three unknown genins, but that was fine. As long as they showed teamwork.

That, and Kakashi resolved this would be the last time he tried to become a jonin instructor. If the third time wasn't the charm, then he'd rather not bother anymore. After all, there seemed to be an abundance of volunteers from other jonins who were eager to have a team of their own. Kakashi wasn't one of them.

Except fate seemed to have other plans.

The first sign was when he received his new genin team. Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura Haruno. The odds of getting either Naruto or Sasuke on his team had been low to begin with. The odds of getting both were even lower. For him to receive his dream team…

Well, it wouldn't be a dream team until the three kids showed some teamwork.

The second sign was when Rin had that knowing look in her eyes after she read over their files.

"You harp on and on about your dream team," Rin began with a light chuckle. "Isn't this it? Sasuke and Sakura are the top of their class in terms of intelligence, so you can just pawn off explanations to Naruto on them. Naruto and Sasuke are two of the most ambitious, hard working ninjas in their generation and they're already friends. Sure they have a rivalry going on, but isn't it just like you and Obito?"

"Maa, sounds like a headache with Sasuke and Naruto on the same team," Kakashi lamented, burying his face in his hands.

"And who was the one who secretly hoped that you would get to teach them?"

"Hai, hai, you're always right. But the kunoichi has no particular talents and according to the files, she's not particularly close to either of them."

"And wasn't I the kunoichi with no particular talents on our team?" Rin retorted. "Give her a chance. Maybe she'll end up surprising you."

"Right, right. Regardless, they'll still have to pass the bell test."

* * *

Contrary to what the three genins believed, the bell test began right at eight o'clock, just like Kakashi instructed. For the first time in a long time, Kakashi hadn't been late. Instead, he hid himself in the trees, with three quarters of his face buried behind a book, while his lone eye set out to observe his genin.

Naruto and Sasuke's dynamic was just like it always had been. Since the moment Naruto stepped foot on the training ground, Sasuke made some remark that set him off. Insults were traded back and forth, though no malicious intentions were behind it, until the boys decided to take their pent up energy into training. Under Sasuke's guidance, Naruto's aim had immensely improved since they first started and now, all of their throws hit every mark.

The surprise factor on the team was Sakura. She was the first to arrive at the training grounds, even earlier than Kakashi himself, which gave him the impression that the girl was a stickler for rules. When each of her respective teammates arrived, Sakura uttered a greeting, but made no effort to socialize with them any further. She had taken solace under the shade of a tree, a textbook cracked open on her lap.

Kakashi was too far to make out the title of the book, but from its thickness and the way that Naruto had scrunched his nose upon seeing the content of her book, he'd wager it was some sort of book on jutsu theories or something related to being a shinobi.

A bookworm, as her files had painted her as. But knowledge was an asset. Something that Naruto had no patience to acquire, so Sakura was the perfect addition to the team to balance it out.

From first impressions, it seemed like they were the team that Kakashi had been looking for. There was only one way to find out.

Two hours after observing them from the trees, Kakashi poofed into the clearing. Naruto had been startled, turning his shock into rage by pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi for being late. Sasuke wore that same impassive look on his face as always, with his arms folded across his chest, but Kakashi's observant eyes didn't miss the slight jump that the kid made when he appeared.

As for Sakura, to her credit, she didn't even flinch, but at the same time, Kakashi didn't land that close to her. Add on to the fact that Kakashi suspected that she had been too absorbed in reading to have noticed anyways.

From there on, it was routine for him. Kakashi set down a clock on top of one of the three wooden posts, setting the time for noon. The rules to the bell test were explained, to which Sakura was quick to point out that there were only two bells. Smiling under his mask, Kakashi proceeded to tell them that the one who didn't get the bells would be sent back to the Academy. Sakura frowned upon receiving that piece of news; no doubt, her mind already whirling with all kinds of thoughts. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, seemingly challenging each other to get the bells first.

He had a vague notion of how the situation would play out, but he hoped he was wrong. To have such high hopes for this team...Kakashi didn't want to be let down a third time.

Rash as always, Naruto decided to charge at him before Kakashi even motioned for them to start. With a loud battlecry that would have alerted enemies of his presence many kilometers away, Naruto jumped up into the air, ready to swing a punch at him.

Only for Kakashi to duck, allowing the blonde boy's momentum to carry him flying forward face first into the ground. The fall sounded painful, but that was his fault for being so hasty in the first place.

"Ah, I didn't say start yet." He paused, eyeing each of the three genins before smiling. "Begin!"

The three of them, or rather two of them scattered into hiding. Sasuke had to come back and drag Naruto into the trees, much to Kakashi's amusement.

If he actually passed this team, he had his work cut out in front of him. To have to teach Naruto about stealth was a daunting prospect. The Fourth had been the epitome of stealth at the height of his career; how had the apple fallen so far from the tree?

Kakashi continued to muse about the similarities between the boy and his father, then moved on to compare him to his mother, while he casually dodged the perfectly aimed shurikens. The glint of the wire tipped him off on Sasuke's trick and Kakashi pretended to go along with it, having already swapped with a substitution. His substitution allowed himself to get caught in Sasuke's wires while Naruto burst out of the trees, aiming a packed punch to his face.

A log was revealed in his place, much to Naruto's annoyance.

So far the scenario had played out exactly like Kakashi predicted. Naruto and Sasuke would team up together due to their previously formed camaraderie, but the question remained whether they would let the kunoichi in on their plans.

Or had they fallen for Kakashi's trap?

Kakashi jumped back down into the clearing, where an agitated Naruto was awaiting him. Forming a familiar hand seal, dozens of Narutos littered the training ground. Lazily, Kakashi began to fight them, putting minimal effort into doing so. Two minutes into engaging a taijutsu fight, if it could even be called a fight, Kakashi casted a simple D rank genjutsu. That had done the trick, now the Naruto clones began to gang up on each other, while Kakashi escaped from the orange mass.

Hmm, what was Sasuke up to now? Kakashi did expect him to barge in while Naruto kept him occupied, so it was slightly surprising that he didn't appear.

Well that was a problem for later as Kakashi easily pinpointed the kunoichi's hiding spot, although it was a better attempt than most genin. In fact, Kakashi would daresay her chakra suppression skills were chunin level at least.

He mirrored her level of chakra suppression as he snuck up behind Sakura, who was sprawled on the grass, watching the battle of Naruto clones. Except…

Kakashi cocked his head to the left as a kunai whizzed by his ear, piercing Sakura's back. That Sakura exploded into a puff of smoke as Kakashi lazily turned around to face the real Sakura, who was standing behind him with a kunai drawn.

As a bookworm type, he had expected that Sakura would have an excellent grasp on all of the Academy level jutsus. Sakura didn't disappoint, but what would she do with it? How would she use it to her advantage?

Except Sakura simply stared at him for a minute, before she tossed three shurikens in his direction, which he dodged with ease. And promptly made a tactical retreat. At least, Kakashi assumed it to be a tactical retreat.

_Hmm, being able to recognize when you are outmatched and retreat is good, but what will you do now? _

Well, it was time for him to find Sasuke now.

And the boy in question just happened to be in the vicinity, no doubt watching Sakura and Kakashi's skirmish to analyze his moves.

When he appeared in Sasuke's line of sight, the younger boy's hands began to move to form the hand seals for a fireball jutsu. Slipping underground with his headhunter jutsu, Kakashi dug a tunnel, pinpointing where Sasuke was standing, then proceeded to bust through the earth and yank the boy down.

Except the boy poofed out of existence. One of Naruto's clones.

When Kakashi made his reappearance on the surface, Sasuke and Naruto immediately pounced at the opportunity to attack. Their genin level taijutsu skills were no challenge for Kakashi, but he was satisfied to see that there was some level of coordination in their attacks, however sloppy.

Hopeful, but ultimately disappointed.

Sakura tried to jump into the fray, dispelling the genjutsu that Kakashi had casted on Naruto along the way, but it became abundantly clear to him that Sakura wasn't let in on the plan. Sasuke's sighs of frustrations as he attempted to not fry his own teammate with another fireball jutsu was made evident. At one point, Naruto even elbowed her out of the circle, hollering an apology, but not even caring to help the poor girl up.

It hadn't even been a full hour but Kakashi decided to end the bell test right then and there. Then proceeded to start a round of arguing between Sasuke and Naruto, blaming one another for the mistakes that they made during their attempt to retrieve the bells. Sakura's green eyes flickered back and forth between the arguing boys, but ultimately kept quiet.

At that point, Kakashi just wanted to go home and forget that this disastrous attempt even happened.

Sakura was the only one who fell into step beside him on their way back to the tree stumps. Sasuke and Naruto lingered behind, still bickering about who knows what. Kakashi was too tired to even follow their argument. It was barely ten o'clock, but it already felt like a long day.

"Individually, there was no way that any of us could have won against you," Sakura said quietly from his left side. Kakashi's interest peaked, gesturing for her to continue. Sakura took a deep breath before she continued her train of thought. "I realized that when I was facing you one on one. When I felt your chakra coming towards me, I left a clone while I hid so that I could observe your skills. When you dodged my kunai so easily, I knew that there was no way that I could win against you, so I retreated.

"I evaluated my options. At that point, I considered the importance of the task, to get the bells. If we were met with a shinobi that outclassed us in the field, with no feasible way to win, a tactical retreat would be the best option until reinforcements arrived. In the meantime, the best option is to tail the enemy, if possible.

"But if we were separated as a team and can take on the enemy shinobi in the first place, then the best thing to do would be to momentarily retreat, regroup, form a plan, then execute an ambush, provided that the enemy shinobi doesn't chase after me.

"From what I have observed, you didn't really care to come after us and only did to force us out of hiding. The way you are fighting suggests that you are merely humoring our attempts. If you have already set it in your mind that it will be practically impossible to get the bells from you, meaning that the task itself isn't important, then you must be expecting something else."

"You wanted us to fight as a group," Sakura finally concluded. "The task itself isn't of importance; in fact, the contingencies regarding the task was only to throw us off."

And finally, at least one of them gets it.

Kakashi would have summarized it in one simple word "teamwork," but Sakura's analytical abilities weren't to be underestimated. It had been such a roundabout way to reach the purpose behind his exercise, but Kakashi supposed that it was good she was already applying low risk situations to real life or death situations.

If he could pass a one man team, he really would pass her right then and there.

"That's correct; however, it seems that your teammates are a bit...dense." Being in the presence of a twelve year old genin reminded Kakashi to tone down his language a bit.

"So I guess we'll all be sent back to the Academy, then?" She definitely took the news way too calmly. If it was Sasuke, he most definitely would have scowled at the idea and thrown a tantrum, Uchiha style, all the way back to the Academy. Naruto would shout insults at him, accuse him of being unclear about the rules, declare that he'll become Hokage one day, and then refuse to go back to the Academy.

At least one of them was proving to not be a pain in the ass.

"Ah, I'll give you another chance. Hope those two knuckleheads use it wisely."

And he commenced the next part of the test, lecturing the two boys on the importance of teamwork. Naruto had a guilty look written on his face as he turned to Sakura, apologizing profusely for leaving her out. It was just as Kakashi thought, Naruto and Sasuke had taken his instructions sending one person back to the Academy quite literally. Sasuke merely ducked his head in shame. His keen ears didn't miss the very quiet apology that Sasuke uttered at Sakura.

Maybe there was hope after all.

"Well, I have two bento boxes. Since Naruto and Sasuke did most of the fighting, you two will get lunch, while Sakura won't have any. If you attempt to feed her, then you will be automatically disqualified. Eat up before the next part of the exams."

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves, hiding in a nearby tree. Normally, Kakashi would have tied up Sakura, but he felt like that would have been too heartless of him to do, especially since she was the only one who figured out the purpose of the exercise.

Now...he had an hour to kill, mmm.

The kiddos were certainly interesting. Sasuke and Naruto simply sat there, with the bento boxes open, but for the past ten minutes, neither of them made a move to eat.

"Ahhh, I'll feel really bad if I eat and you don't, Sakura chan!" Naruto exclaimed so loudly that even Kakashi could hear him from the trees.

In other words? He was really loud.

Sasuke appeared to be saying something back to Naruto. Sakura interjected into the conversation and Kakashi was pleased to see that both boys were listening to what she was saying.

Probably sprouting one of her long winded theories.

The three genins yammered for the entire hour. By the time the hour was up and Kakashi appeared in front of them once more, he eyed both of their untouched bento boxes. Had they been too busy plotting how to take him down and forgotten to eat?

A loud growl emitted from Naruto's stomach. The boy had the decency to look sheepish.

"Why didn't you eat?"

Naruto had an answer ready for him. Leaping to his feet, Naruto pointed a finger at Kakashi. "If one of us isn't allowed to eat, then all of us don't eat!"

Kakashi blinked. That was foolish, but at the same time, heartwarming.

"But now you won't have the strength to fight me."

"That's where you are wrong," Sasuke said. "Each of us individually with a full stomach is no stronger than all of us together on an empty stomach. Besides, only the dobe was stupid enough to not eat breakfast."

Naruto's indignant "Hey!" could be heard kilometers away, Kakashi was sure.

"I think the purpose of the test was for them to break the rules and share their lunch with me," Sakura added. "But just as a precaution, we decided to go the other way around. After all, all of us not eating is teamwork, right?"

"Those who break the rules are considered to be scum, but those who abandon their comrades are considered to be worse than scum," Kakashi recited sagely, closing his eye as he recalled the boy who once taught him that lesson. "Have each other's backs at all times, don't leave anyone behind. Remember, the team is only as strong as the weakest link."

"Meet me here tomorrow morning. By the time I arrive, I expect you all to get to know each other's fighting styles, strengths, and weaknesses. From there, we'll officially start training. Good job, Team Seven."

When Rin came home that day, Kakashi wore a stupid smile on his face. At that point, Rin didn't even need to ask how it went, but she did it anyway for routine's sake.

"So how was your genin team?"

"Maa, they're still a bunch of idiots. But, they're my idiots."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**The story of how team 7 came to be, figured a little bit of humor would be a good addition to the story. Here, we start the canon timeline. Some events will overlap, so I will be skimming those parts - I'm sure we've all watched/read Naruto enough times to know what happens. **

**If you missed it last time, I just wanted to mention again that Team 7 personalities will not be canon. Naruto is mostly the same albeit more skilled at this point in time. Sakura is not a fangirl. Sasuke isn't all that hung up on revenge for reasons I explained in the last chapter A/N. Naruto and Sasuke have a rivalry going on but they're friends. **

**To answer the Guest reviewer: Yes, Obito sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto. I never specified the seal so I'm running off the assumption that Obito learned some tailed beast sealing technique under Madara's tutelage to complete the plan. I don't think I ever mentioned if it was all or half, so I'm going to go with all (although I think there was some contingency regarding why Minato split the sealing in half in canon that I can't remember). So yes, Naruto doesn't have any of his parent's chakra in the seal and there is no key because Minato wasn't the one who sealed him this time. As for Minato being reanimated, what you said is true. If you look around chapter 16? (the part where they confronted Orochimaru for murdering the Fourth), he already reanimated Minato once, so it is entirely possible to reanimate him again in the future. I honestly don't remember anything about the scarf (was this during the Chunin exam evasion? I'm sorry, it's been a good 5+ years since I've watched Naruto). If you're reading this, please do me a favor and leave the episode number if you know it! **

**I hope that helps to answer most of your questions!**

**I know some people wanted Rin to have her own genin team but her skillset is so niche and heavily based around chakra control that I would find it hard for her to teach anything beyond basics so the team would be shortlived. But don't worry! She'll be mentoring Team 7 too. **

**Next chapter is called Team Seven. Shocker, I know. **

**Thanks for reading and until next time!**

**-MM**


	29. Team Seven

**Chapter Twenty Eight: Team Seven **

Teaching...reminded him why he hated teaching in the first place. To have to explain the basics, to be constantly reminded that they didn't know how to do basic things that Kakashi had taken for granted, like tree walking or fighting on water, to always receive a blank look in response to Kakashi's cues.

It always seemed to slip his mind that these kids were just genins, not jonin or Anbu level shinobis that he was used to working with. They didn't understand the Anbu hand signs nor the jonin ones. They didn't know the most common team formations. They couldn't tell what the hell Kakashi wanted them to do just from the look in his eye.

Then again, the last one was something only the members of Team Ro could do, so what was Kakashi expecting? For his new team to be able to read his mind? Yeah, right.

For all that he hated teaching, Kakashi had a genin team, so he would take responsibility for them. Especially since there was still an ongoing challenge between him and Gai on whose genins would become chunin first. Gai had a head start, but Kakashi wasn't too concerned.

He would whip these brats into shape by the time the next chunin exams rolled around.

Did Kakashi say that he was going to take responsibility for them? Scratch that, he meant he would shirk his responsibilities onto Sasuke or Sakura, in the cases where Naruto needed to be explained something.

The first order of business was to get both Sakura and Naruto's taijutsu skills onto Sasuke's level, which was currently at low level chunin. Speed could come in later, but for now, Sakura's taijutsu skills were practically nonexistent and Naruto's fighting style was very heavy hitting, but left a lot of openings for enemies to take advantage of.

Sasuke didn't look too happy at being put in charge of both of their progress, but all Kakashi needed to do was mention that the team is only as strong as their weakest link for Sasuke to agree.

The second order of business consisted of the three genins learning basic formations and chunin hand signals. Sakura and Sasuke caught on pretty quickly, but Naruto struggled. Thus, Sakura was left in charge of making sure Naruto got the information. The blonde boy proceeded to whine about learning boring things.

"I wanna learn a super cool jutsu!"

"The things that you call 'boring,' could very well save your life in the future," Kakashi lectured. Then he proceeded to tell him a story of one of the missions where using hand signals to communicate had saved their life. Naruto listened to the story with disinterest written all over his face, but Kakashi supposed that couldn't be helped. Not when he turned an assassination mission into a dry cut story because he had to omit or modify most of the details of the mission.

He was sworn to secrecy after all.

At that point, Kakashi left, claiming that he had a mission when he really didn't. The genins were given instructions to continue working on what they were taught and given an assignment to complete by tomorrow: to do their research and figure out which aspect of shinobi arts they wanted to specialize in.

Then he headed to the training ground furthest away from them to do his own training. The completion of a new jutsu that he dubbed Rasenshuriken.

"It's complete, isn't it?" Kakashi broke his concentration, letting the chakra in his palm fade to nothing, as Rin's chakra signature came closer.

"Trying to figure out how to throw it," Kakashi admitted. "With the properties of the wind chakra that I added, if I attempt to smash the jutsu into the enemy, the wind will cut into my own hand as well."

"Then how come the Chidori doesn't harm your hand when you use it?"

"Lightning is my first chakra nature. My body will naturally be more resistant to it. And since wind is strong against lightning, I have the least resistance to wind and thus, is the weakest element that I have."

They spent the next half hour working through possible theories to be able to throw chakra, but didn't come up with much beyond treating it like an extension. Except the problem with that was the Rasenshuriken would come back to Kakashi and he definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of his own jutsu.

"Why don't you limit the amount of chakra then?" Rin suggested. "Then the jutsu will fizzle out before it comes back to you."

"I can keep working on it, but even if I perfect this jutsu, there's no way I can use it in battle. The amount of chakra that it takes equates to when I use two Chidoris."

"And that's why I've been trying to figure something out for you," Rin retorted. "How is your chakra control coming along?"

According to Rin, the plan was "simple" in theory, but hard to pull off. Kakashi thought the plan wasn't all that simple, even in theory.

The source of his low chakra reserves was the Sharingan, which sucked away his chakra at a constant rate when he wasn't using it. When he did use it, the Sharingan took his chakra at an exponential rate, which usually left him with about two thirds of his actual reserves for battle. Considering his chakra reserves were average to begin with, Kakashi repeatedly found himself at the hospital for low chakra reserves.

And so Rin had devised a plan for him, which would have been ridiculously easy for her to pull off. For Kakashi, not so much.

It was sort of similar to what Rin had done to regain her chakra control. She proposed the idea of creating another chakra reservoir and rerouting the chakra network connected to the Sharingan to that chakra reservoir. Then she would fill up that reservoir with her chakra. In the event that Kakashi did need to resort to Kamui, then by using her chakra, he wasn't tapping into his own and her chakra contained some healing properties to curb some of the blindness.

The failsafe was that Kakashi needed to be able to connect his chakra network to that reservoir in the event that the reservoir ran dry. That, right there, was his biggest problem.

For all of his shinobi career, Kakashi had simply tapped into a single pool of chakra and executed his jutsus from there. While he had a thorough understanding of chakra networks, he didn't reroute chakra network on the daily, like Rin did.

In fact when Rin explained to him what she really did, Kakashi had practically toppled over from the shock. At this point in time, Rin had created five reservoirs full of Isobu's chakra, while one was of her own chakra for the seal on her forehead. Isobu's chakra had corrosive elements, Rin had explained, so to continue to use medical ninjutsu, she had to filter through Isobu's chakra and hers and place it separately. In battle, she would draw upon the reserves of Isobu's chakra to fight, while in healing, she would switch to her own.

Kakashi was simply mind blown that she could do that with such ease, even in the thick of the battle.

It becomes practically second nature, Rin told him. That was easy enough for her to say, as she had one of the best, if not the best, chakra control in the village. With his additional training, Kakashi's current chakra control scraped the bare minimum requirement for the refinery needed to become a medical ninja.

He only found out because Rin insisted on teaching some basic medical ninjutsu in emergencies, now that he had a team of genin to look after. While Rin watched Kakashi practice using medical ninjutsu, she all but burst out laughing, claiming that his healing would close the wound and stop the bleeding, but would most definitely leave scars. The funny part to her was simply because she had never seen him perform at a genin level.

Kakashi scowled in response.

Though he had his own self doubts about whether or not he would actually be able to achieve Rin's plan, Kakashi kept working at it. One, he wasn't born a quitter. Two, he had never not been able to figure out something. Three, it would lessen his chances of entering the hospital. Four, he didn't want to look lame in front of those idiots. Five, he could finally execute the many battle tactics that he had to disregard due to his abysmal chakra levels. Six, he needed a larger chakra reserve to actually use sensei's Hiraishin in battle. It would do him no good to be exhausted just from the act of teleporting.

Besides, if he had to suffer from learning chakra control all over again, then his kiddos was going to suffer with him.

* * *

When Kakashi was whisked away from his genin team for an impromptu S rank mission, he left them in Rin's care. As so it happened, Rin's medical students were progressing quite nicely and would do alright under one of her subordinate's watchful eyes, so Rin could step away from the hospital.

All he needed to do was the plant the idea into her head that his students had poor chakra control, and they did, and Kakashi knew what his three cute genins would be spending their day doing.

Tree walking.

Rin showed up at the training grounds, at the time Kakashi usually did, so about two hours after the scheduled meet up time. She didn't want them to get comfortable with her showing up on time, only to have to revert back to adapting to Kakashi's schedule. Besides, Kakashi did mention that in that time frame was their valuable "team bonding time and he wouldn't want to interrupt that."

She only half believed him, but upon seeing the genins sitting in a circle on the grass, seemingly discussing something important, her belief increased. Only marginally though as Naruto started to point an accusing finger at Sasuke, shouting something incomprehensible.

"Hi," she greeted. Recognition flickered in all three of their eyes, but Rin couldn't really recall when she met the kunoichi on Kakashi's team.

"Nee san, where's Kakashi sensei? Is he lost on the stupid road of life or something?" Naruto demanded.

"Settle down, Naruto. He's on a mission right now, so he told me to help with your training today. And Naruto, here I am your sensei, not your sister, alright?"

"Alright, nee- I mean Rin sensei. What are we learning today? Can you teach us something cool?"

And there it was, Naruto's daily request to learn a cool jutsu. At this point, Kakashi had become so accustomed to it that he began to tune the blonde boy out, but still complained to her daily about his three brats.

"We're going to work on your chakra control, today."

Naruto's face immediately scrunched up in disgust. "Why?"

"You can't learn cool jutsus if you don't have chakra control," Rin admonished. "Besides, learning chakra control allows you to walk on water and hop through trees."

And just to encourage him further, Rin added. "If you can't do that, then you won't ever become a chunin, much less the Hokage."

That did the trick. "Alright! How do we do this chakra control thing?"

"The first exercise to walk up trees, using only your feet. The trick is to send the right amount of chakra to the soles of your feet. Too much, you will break the bark of the tree. Too little, your feet won't stick and you'll just fall. You'll need to practice until you can do it like it's second nature to you."

At the end of her explanation, Rin demonstrated by walking straight up the trunk of the nearest tree. From the top of the tree, she ordered the three of them to start practicing. "Use a kunai to mark your height."

She took solace on one of the lower hanging branches halfway up the tree, giving her the perfect view of the three genins. After all, if their chakra control was as bad as Kakashi made it out to be, none of them were going to get past the halfway point.

Naruto was the first to take a stab at it, running towards the tree at full speed, taking two steps up the trunk before he promptly fell, landing on his back. Sasuke snickered at Naruto's demise, walking towards the tree. A few steps up the trunk and Sasuke's foot broke the bark. To save himself from the fall, Sasuke backflipped off of the tree, landing gracefully on his feet. Annoyance was etched all across his face.

As for Sakura, the girl simply silently stared at both Naruto and Sasuke's failed attempts. Nodding to herself, the girl approached the base of the tree. Planting one foot on the trunk, Sakura used her hands to steady herself as her other foot stuck to the tree. From there, she methodically placed one foot in front of another, making her way up the tree to the halfway point with ease. From that point forward, Sakura gained the courage to run the rest of the way up.

Naruto was watching with awe down below, while Sasuke still had that impassive look on his face. But having spent years reading Uchiha facial expressions told Rin that the kid had been mildly impressed with Sakura's display.

Kakashi did mention to her in passing that Sakura seemed like a genjutsu type, and now Rin understood why. With her excellent chakra control, Sakura would be able to sense any fluctuations to her chakra the moment the genjutsu was casted.

Perhaps the two of them were more similar in skill set than Rin had originally anticipated. Motioning for the girl to come down from the tree, Rin hopped down from the branch. Summoning a clone to supervise the two boys, who continued to treat the exercise as a challenge who could get up the tree first, the real Rin led Sakura to a small pond located on the other side of the training ground.

"Try practicing walking on water," Rin instructed. "It's the same concept, but water is a bit harder since it moves. Once you master walking on still water, I'll take you to the lake where you can practice adjusting your chakra control on moving water."

Sakura did just that, testing the waters with one foot at first. She wobbled slightly, but caught her balance before she could fall in. Her other foot joined the first and for a second, Sakura simply stood there to get a feel for it. Then she began to walk across the pond slowly.

Slow and steady, but she didn't topple in once. The girl continued practicing, crossing the pond again, towards where Rin was sitting. And then back to the other side once more. With each attempt, Rin noted that Sakura was becoming steadier with each attempt, and more comfortable.

A testament to the young girl's progress was seen when Sakura piped up to ask Rin a question. "Ne, Rin sensei, can you help me?"

"With what?" She had responded instinctively. It didn't even hit her until Sakura was speaking again that Rin was conversing with a genin who was trying to learn how to walk on water. Who was supposed to be concentrating on the task, not being able to spare a thought to starting a conversation.

Yet there was the girl, gracefully sliding across the water while she spoke. Sakura was full of surprises, Rin would admit.

"-Kakashi sensei told us to figure out what area of shinobi arts we wanted to specialize in, but I'm not sure what I can do with my skill set. I mean it is obvious with Naruto's large chakra reserves that he will be adept in ninjutsu and his endless stamina will aid him in taijutsu. Sasuke is all around talented and his dojutsu will lean him towards genjutsu, but even if he doesn't, he has a strong affinity for ninjutsu. But I'm not sure about myself…"

"Your excellent chakra control will open doors for you that aren't available to either Sasuke and Naruto. The obvious is to become a medical ninja, but decent chakra control is also critical to become a high class genjutsu user. Tsunade shishou uses chakra in to aid her in battle."

"That's not to say," Rin continued. "That you can't explore the arts that don't require refined chakra control. Your advanced chakra control will just make it easier for you to execute the jutsu."

"I see. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll figure something out."

By the time that Kakashi came back from his mission three days later, he was pleased to see that all of his genins had mastered tree climbing. Sasuke and Naruto were working on water walking, while Sakura was fighting against one of her clones on water.

His lone eye shone with pride.

"Ne, I did a good job, didn't I?"

Kakashi didn't even need to turn to see who it was. "Well maybe they're just good kids."

"The girl has excellent chakra control," Rin stated. "She's just not confident in her abilities that's all, but I suppose you figured that out all along time ago, didn't you? Besides pawning off work onto me, you want me to teach Sakura."

"Maa, nothing gets past you does it? Her skillset is very similar to yours, so I figured you would be able to teach her more things than I ever could. Perfect chakra control, genjutsu type, and I suspect that her sensory skills aren't a joke either."

"Let the girl decide on her own," Rin finally said. "I'll wait for her to come to me."

* * *

She was on a B ranked mission, supervising some jonin hopeful chunins, when she felt it. Sparing a glance at the two chunins in front of her, Rin summoned a clone, leaving it in her stead while her real body snuck off into the forest.

The chunins didn't even notice and continued trudging forward towards Konoha, with her clone right on their heels.

Her real body headed east, following the flicker of chakra. The source of the chakra came from a crow that circled above her head, leading her to exactly where it wanted her to go. It was no ordinary crow; she could feel Itachi's chakra signature.

It had been five years since the massacre. Five years since they last spoke. What did he want? Did he receive word that there was going to be an attack on Konoha?

Ten kilometers away from her team, the crow suddenly stopped its flight, choosing to land on a branch right next to her. Rin paused, eyeing the Sharingan embedded in the crow. One look and Rin felt an onslaught of chakra into her system as the crow burst into a plethora of feathers, fluttering lightly down to the forest floor.

_Five days time. Uchiha hideout. _

A frown marred her face as Rin turned to rejoin her team. Her teammates' chakra signatures were too easy to pinpoint, even a non sensor could pick them out. Making a mental note to scold the chunins for their poor chakra suppression skills, she pushed chakra to the soles of her feet to speed her along.

Rin supposed she could have teleported to her clone's marking, but that wouldn't escape the chunin's notice.

She rejoined the group, easily swapping out her clone and slipping into her rightful place.

The rest of the journey home was spent mulling over Itach's message. Only five words long, but posed a whole lot of problems.

There was no question about it. Rin was going to meet him.

But how was she going to get out of the village?

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! Sorry in advance for the long note ahead. **

**Don't worry, the Rasenshuriken will still be Naruto's jutsu. Kakashi had 10+ years and Minato's notes to help him get to the first form of the Rasenshuriken but with his chakra levels, that jutsu isn't very useful to him in battle. **

**To Guest: Thanks for mentioning the scarf; I must have missed that detail when I watched the movie. To be honest, I haven't given much thought about the intricacies of the seal, so I don't really have answers for you. The story isn't really focused on Naruto (or Team Seven in general - it might seem like it for these few chapters), so I haven't thought that far about the Kyuubi. **

**I have a confession to make. I wrote the first 30 or so chapters in a span of 15 days at the end of 2019 and wrote another 10 chapters during the semester when I could find time. I haven't written anything for this story since early March. With that being said, I just wanted to be candid and let you guys know that I have lost interest in this story and have moved on to other story ideas. If the story seems like it was written in a rush, that's because it was. I'll admit that there's a lot of plot holes that I should really fix, subplots that I never get around to addressing, and mediocre writing, but I hope that you guys will stick with me until the finish! I promise that the story will be finished (can't promise that it'll be really good though), if only to give some readers a peace of mind. :) I'll still continue to post every Friday until it's finished, endgame should be 44-45 chapters in total lol. **

**I mentioned a while back that I was working on a new story idea and it's finally coming in fruition. I've been working on it on and off since March, so I wanted to know what you guys think of it. Personally, I've enjoyed writing this one a lot more. Let me know if you would (or wouldn't) be interested in reading it. **

**Setting: AU. The Senjus and Uchihas never made peace with each other and continued to fight each other. Each side created their own village (so Konoha doesn't exist). So basically the Warring States Era extended to modern time. **

**Very tentative summary(did I ever mention that summaries aren't my forte?): **Having lost all of his family to war, all Kakashi yearned for was peace. By day, he was one of the Uchiha's prized soldiers, and by night, a Senju informant. For the sake of peace, he was willing to anything and everything. And Rin? She just happened to be an obstacle to achieving said peace.

**And that's the gist of it! Let me know if you would be interested in reading it, any thoughts you have, or any questions. :) **

**Next chapter is called Land of Waves. We can finally start canon arcs!**

**Thanks for reading and listening to me ramble. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	30. Land of the Waves

**Chapter Twenty Nine: Land of the Waves**

All Hiruzen wanted to do was retire. The thought crossed his mind so many times in the last ten years since he took on his second term as Hokage after the Yondaime passed that he had lost count.

He wanted to retire. But how could he, when there were no suitable successors in the village?

Minato had always been his top choice, despite his young age, not only for his performance during the war, but also the compassion that the man had for the village. Orochimaru exhibited a darkness in his heart that was unsuitable for Hokage position. Of his two remaining students, neither of them were in the village. Neither of them seemed particularly interested in becoming Hokage either.

That left the younger generation for Hiruzen to consider. In Minato's generation, all of the capable shinobis were either dead by this point, or heads of their respective clans. Shikaku Nara was a good choice, but the man thought that being Hokage was too troublesome. Then that left the generation after Minato's.

His son's generation.

Asuma had grown up stating that he would never follow his father's footsteps to become Hokage and Hiruzen was fine with that. The rest of his peers didn't seem too keen on taking the position either. Genma, Ebisu, and Raidou had gone their separate ways to attain the special jonin rank. As far as Hiruzen was aware, Ebisu had been solicited to be his grandson's private tutor. Genma and Raidou had taken up joining the border patrol after the Yondaime's passing. Gai's goal was to become jonin sensei, not Hokage. Kurenai was only a newly minted jonin.

That left the obvious: Kakashi and Rin. And if Hiruzen was honest with himself, in his will, he named either of those two to be his successor in the event that he died before another successor was declared.

Both of them were likely to reject the position, but ultimately would take it for the sake of the village. And Hiruzen would feel assured leaving the village in their capable hands simply because they shared the same mentality.

In fact, all of the members of Team Ro had the same mentality and that was what Hiruzen suspected to make them such a compatible team in the first place.

They would do anything to protect the future of the village.

When Team Seven came after another mission concerning the Daimyo's wife's lost cat and Naruto demanded for more exciting missions, that reminded Hiruzen that he was way too old for this job. Nearing seventy years old...all the man wanted to do was retire in peace. Not have to deal with genin haggling for better missions.

Hiruzen didn't miss the amused glance exchanged between Kakashi and Rin, who tagged along for some unknown reason, and noted the warm feeling in his chest upon seeing them. They had grown up. They had come a long way since their Anbu days. The darkness that once pervaded every aspect of their beings was gone.

Sasuke merely grunted his agreement to Naruto's request. Sakura even had the courage to speak up, in agreement to Naruto's claims, albeit she was a lot politer than Naruto had been.

Hiruzen sighed, glancing at Kakashi for his approval. After all, the man trusted Kakashi's judgment and in the event that anything went wrong, Kakashi was more than capable of protecting the three genins. And bringing all of them back alive.

Kakashi eyed the three brats in front of him. It was true that their skills were more polished than they had been fresh out of the Academy. It was true that their chakra control had improved enough where all three of them could fight on water, if needed. It was true that their team dynamic was good, still could be better, but it was a work in progress. It was true that they had completed their fair share of D ranked missions already.

But it was also true that Kakashi was bored supervising them on random D ranked missions around the village.

And that last reason alone was more than enough for him to agree to let his team take a C ranked mission, much to his team's delight.

"You're the best, Kakashi sensei!" Naruto shouted, leaping towards him to hug him. Kakashi side stepped, effectively avoiding the impending bone crushing hug. Naruto, to his credit, caught his balance before he was sent crashing head first into the wall.

"Maa, settle down. Listen to the details of the mission, Naruto." His right hand rested on top of Naruto's head, twisting the boy's head around so that Naruto was facing the Hokage once more.

"This is a C rank mission. You are in charge of escorting Tazuna san back to the Land of Waves and protecting him from bandits or wild animals that might attack."

Hiruzen turned towards one of his assistants. "Bring him in."

A drunk man pushed open the door and stepped inside. The straw hat on his head blocked half of his face. His right arm raised a bottle of tequila to his lips, downing another quarter of its contents.

Tazuna eyed the three brats with suspicion. "You seriously expect these three gakis to be able to ensure my safety? Especially the shortest one over there, with an idiotic look on his face."

Rin covered up her laugh with her hand as she watched Naruto mentally connecting the dots as who Tazuna was talking about. When it finally dawned on him that it was him, Naruto began to scream insults at the bridge builder. Kakashi held him back from physically harming the client by grabbing onto the collar of his orange jacket.

"Ah, if it makes you feel better, I can join you for part of the mission. After all, there's an area near the Land of Waves that has some rare herbs that I would like to collect. Of course, if that's alright with you Hokage sama?"

In all of his years as Hokage and in the field as a shinobi, Hiruzen admittedly met his fair share of sly shinobis. Most of their intentions were obvious, most of the time to pawn off responsibilities onto their comrade and there were times when there was a mole in Konoha. Hiruzen wasn't quite sure of Rin's intentions; it had to much more than what she said it was, but the Hokage trusted her.

And whatever shady self assigned mission she was going to complete.

Hiruzen was too old for this.

* * *

The trek was unsurprisingly, uneventful, but Kakashi really hadn't expected much. At least it was an upgrade from D rank missions, where all he did was lounge in the shade while his genins completed menial tasks. At the very least, Kakashi got to leave the village.

For someone who went on missions after missions or was always kept busy even when he was in the village, the past two weeks had been boring. Teaching genin had only taken up a fraction of his day. His self wallowing at the memorial stone had even taken up more time than training his genin. It had been two weeks since the S rank mission and Kakashi was itching to leave the village again.

In fact, he had been particularly envious of Rin when she announced all of the short term missions outside of the village that she was going on. He contemplated asking her to switch positions with him, but knew that he couldn't replace her invaluable skillset.

Sigh. Maybe if he was a medical ninja he would be in high demand for missions all the time.

It had been awhile since he was solicited for C rank missions, but a mission was a mission.

"I'm going to split at the border of the Land of Fire," Rin informed him in a hushed voice. The genin didn't seem to be paying attention anyways, as Naruto was bickering with Tazuna while Sasuke shook his head in shame. Sakura profusely apologized on Naruto's behalf, while Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, jerking his head away from Tazuna. What a petulant child.

"Ah, I've been meaning to ask about that." Translation: _What are you really up to? _

"I have a crow that I need to intercept." Translation: _Meeting with Itachi. _

"I see. Be careful." Translation: _Tell me about it when we both get home. _

Neither jonins missed the puddle on the ground. Rin even purposely stepped on the puddle, wondering if the kids would notice. They didn't, too caught up in their antics to pay attention to their surroundings.

Rin shrugged as Kakashi pointed at the tree. Both of them performed the substitution jutsu, replacing themselves with a block of a log while their real bodies perched on top of a branch.

Right as Rin's substitution self took her second step away from the puddle, two shadows flew out of the puddle. One went for Rin, stabbing her in the back before joining his comrade in a combination to pull the chains around Kakashi, slicing him in half.

All three genins' eyes widened, but they didn't have time to be in shock. Sasuke was the first to recover from his shock, leaping into the air. With a well aimed shuriken, he pinned the length of their chain to the trunk of the tree. An extra kunai embedded itself into the trunk with a notable thunk, right in the middle of the shuriken. Landing on top of their metal plated arm guards, Sasuke kicked both of them in the head.

The Demon Brothers broke the chain attached to their arm guard. One of them charged straight for Naruto, who was still frozen in shock, managing to nick the blonde with his metal claw. The other went for Tazuna. Squashing all of her nerves, Sakura leapt in front of Tazuna, a kunai held in front of her. Her mind was reeling with numerous battle tactics and plans, but there was only one that came to mind.

_Retreat._

Though they had numbers, the three genins were severely outclassed by the two older shinobis. There was no backup as far as Sakura knew, so logically their best option was to retreat.

Except Kakashi's first teachings flickered through her mind.

_Those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum._

That alone had been enough for Sakura to continue to stand her ground, even as the enemy came closer. Right as the enemy's metal claw reached out to slice her, Sakura's green eyes roved for any weakness in the metal. She had settled for jamming her kunai right in between the second and third claw, when Sasuke appeared in front of her.

And that was when Kakashi decided it was time to interfere, easily leaping down from his spot in the trees. Then proceeded to lock both of the Demon Brothers in a chokehold, with enough force to knock them unconscious.

"Yo." A mixture of relief and unamusement flickered across the genin's faces. Meanwhile, Naruto was still staring at Kakashi in shock. He blinked twice, like he wasn't quite sure if what he was seeing was real.

"Wha- I thought you were dead!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi, while he made quick work of tying the two unconscious shinobis to the tree, using their own chains.

Kakashi merely cocked his head back. "Hmm, sorry Naruto. I could have easily taken them out by myself, but I had to see who the target was. And don't move around so much, you've been poisoned."

To which Naruto predictably began flailing around. As Rin jumped down from the trees, Kakashi shot her a wry look, pointing conspicuously at Naruto. She nodded, approaching the flailing boy to heal his wound.

"What do you mean who the ninjas were after?" Sakura questioned.

"Well, I wanted to see if they were after Tazuna or if they were after us. After all, Rin and I do have quite a big bounty on our heads. But it seems, Tazuna is the target."

"A C rank mission entails soliciting our aid against bandits or wild animals," Kakashi continued. "If this mission involves ninjas, then this is beyond the scope of this mission. This should be a B rank mission or higher. The real question is why did you lie?"

A visible drop of sweat slid down Tazuna's forehead. A now healed Naruto jumped into the conversation, despite only having caught the tail end of it.

"We can't turn back now! If we do, the old man will die!" Naruto yelled. "I don't care if this is beyond the scope of the mission. I won't ever give up, that's my ninja way!"

"A valiant effort, Naruto, but the next enemy shinobis that they will send will be jonin level. You aren't prepared to face them."

"Kakashi sensei is right, Naruto," Sakura interjected. "There's no way that we can win against jonin level shinobis. But Kakashi sensei, didn't you teach us that we shouldn't abandon our friends? We can't just abandon Tazuna san."

"Well…"

"Ah, just admit that these genins have you cornered," Rin said, chuckling lightly. "Take the mission. I'm sure with your skills, you'll be able to protect them. Besides just in case, I can always catch up with you after I finish my mission."

"Fine, but Tazuna san, you have a lot of explaining to do on the way."

* * *

Near the border of the Land of Fire, Rin split from the group. Tazuna had looked reluctant for her to go, perhaps he thought the next enemy shinobis would be too much for Team Seven to handle. However, Rin was confident that they would be alright. Although three of them were still fresh genins, they had determination and teamwork on their side. And well, Tazuna hadn't seen how easily Kakashi had taken out jonin level threats in the past.

Rin had. But just to be safe, she handed him three chakra vials, just in case he was pushed to the edge of chakra exhaustion as well as some healing crystals. Just in case the genins got hurt again.

The Uchiha hideout wasn't too far from here. A fifteen minute run through the trees. The real problem was how she would get through the traps. Although Rin was confident that she remembered where all the traps were, she didn't want to take any chances.

Turns out, Rin didn't have to worry about that. Both Itachi and Shisui's chakra signature was present in the cave. But they weren't the only ones in the vicinity. A foreign chakra signature was situated near the entrance of the cave, not close enough to be noticed by normal shinobi.

From her position she spotted half of its torso and its head. Split down the middle, one side of its face was black while the other was white. Around it, was a plant shaped shield? The rest of the body was covered by a black cloak with a red cloud shaped pattern. The strangest thing was that the body was half sunk into the trunk of the tree. And the foreign shinobi was staring intently at the entrance of the Uchiha hideout.

She waited another twenty minutes, but it seemed the shinobi had no intention of moving. Hmm, how could she sneak past him then?

If she went in as herself, then the enemy shinobi would instantly be suspicious especially if he knew that this was an Uchiha hideout. Rin contemplating henging into Izumi, but if that plant man was part of that S class organization that Itachi mentioned, she would blow away their covers.

What else would be inconspicuous? Animals. A cat.

With a simple transformation jutsu, Rin transformed herself into a cat, mirroring Momo's appearance. Satisfied with her appearance, she hopped down from the trees and began to dart across the clearing.

She felt the plant man's chakra flicker, but it died back down, probably upon seeing that it was just a stray animal. Rin successfully made it to the foot of the cave, but was hesitant to proceed any further in fear of the traps.

If she flickered her chakra to announce her appearance, then Itachi and Shisui would certainly feel it, as would the plant man. Another option was to transform back into her human self and whistle out the Anbu code for her identity, but from his position, the plant man would certainly spot her.

Genjutsu doused the entire front entrance of the cave. In the darkness, Rin spotted a silhouette jumping nimbly to avoid the traps. Once Shisui reached her, Rin hopped onto his hand, allowing him to take her to the back of the caves.

Itachi was sitting against the wall of the cave, the fire torches illuminating the shadows that stretched across his face. Besides him, Akemi and Momo were stretched out on the ground on either side of him. Momo shot her an unimpressed look when Rin hopped down from Shisui's shoulder.

"That was a poor transformation job," Momo commented. Rin promptly cancelled the transformation, reverting back to her human self.

"Ah sorry. It's been a while since I last saw you."

A while was an understatement. The last time had probably been the night of the massacre and even then, that had been in the dark. Since then, Akemi and Momo had taken up living at Izumi's place, darting in and out of sight as they pleased. When Rin went over, she had seen occasional streaks fly across the apartment, but nothing more than that.

Nothing really changed about them. They still looked the same and even exuded the same air of laziness to them, but could be lethal in combat if needed. And still ever loyal to their masters.

Shisui was busy forming the hand seals for a sound barrier. For the first time, Rin had gotten a good look at their clothes. Cloak with red shaped clouds.

"Your comrade is spying on you outside," Rin informed them. "The plant man."

"Ah Zetsu. He is the leader's right hand man and is often sent to spy on each of us to determine our loyalties. Guess it's our turn," Itachi explained. "But no matter. He is very susceptible to genjutsu and he cannot enter into the hideout without our permission."

Zetsu...the same man who had healed Obito's body with Hashirama cells? If that was the case, then was this organization the one that Obito had tried to start before his death?

"We joined an S rank criminal organization called the Akatsuki," Itachi began. "For the past couple of years since we've joined, Shisui and I have been trying to dig up their plans and figure out each of the other members' abilities. It seems that the Akatsuki has finally finished recruiting and will begin to execute their plans soon."

Everything was happening exactly just like Obito said it would.

"They're trying to collect the tailed beasts, aren't they?"

"How did you know?" Shisui demanded. "Have they already tried to attack you?"

Rin shook her head. "Remember the masked man behind the Kyuubi attack? He was the mastermind behind the organization and he told me all about his Eye of Moon plan. The masked man said he was going to create the perfect world and allow everyone to live out their dream world, but to do that, he needs all nine tailed beasts' chakra and the Rinnegan."

"Rinnegan?" Itachi repeated. "Our leader, Pein, has the Rinnegan. The masked man is dead though, so how…?

"I believe that he brainwashed this Pein person before the Kyuubi attack. Perhaps Pein is simply carrying on the plan, or there is another mastermind behind the scenes."

"How do you know all of this?" Shisui asked.

Rin hated to lie to them, but the masked man's identity was a secret that she was going to take to the grave. "The masked man told me. He probably didn't think that I would survive the battle. He mentioned extracting the sanbi from me."

"I see. Our current task is to find out who houses each tailed beast and gather information about each jinchuuriki's fighting styles," Shisui revealed. "Itachi and I are assigned to the nine tails since we are from Konoha. We won't be able to protect Naruto's identity since his identity is a well known fact in the village, so we wanted to warn you."

"The good news," Itachi added. "Is that we have to seal the tailed beasts in order, so Naruto will be last."

"And who is assigned to the third tails?"

"Akatsuki still believes that the sanbi is still located in Kiri," Shisui stated. "So Kisame, one of the former Seven Legendary Swordsman, is assigned to that."

"And do you know his abilities?"

"A bit," Itachi admitted. His hand reached into his cloak and pulled out a nondescript looking scroll. "All of the information that we have compiled is in this scroll. It's incomplete, but at least it's a start."

Rin took the scroll, pocketing it. "Don't worry about Naruto. Kakashi and I will look out for him."

"One more request," Itachi said. "Please look after Sasuke. Before Orochimaru defected from Akatsuki, he came after me because he wanted my eyes. I suspect that he will seek out Sasuke as his next target."

"Don't worry about it. Kakashi is Sasuke's jonin sensei, so he'll definitely protect him with his life."

And from there, the topic centered around Sasuke. And on Konoha's current state. Then the conversation shifted back to future communication strategies. Rin gave both of them a senbon, with a formula sealing wrapped around it, instructing them to throw it if they ever needed help. For a good measure, Rin also marked both of them on the back.

And then she spent a good hour healing both of their eyes, chiding them for their overuse of the Sharingan.

After all, Rin had a couple of hours to kill while she waited for the plant man to finally leave.

* * *

Zabuza intercepted Team Seven the moment they stepped onto shore. His Executioner Blade swung at Naruto, who was saved from having his head severed by Sakura, who quickly tackled him down. As the mist blanketed the area, Kakashi ordered the three genin in a triangle formation around their client.

Forehead protector pushed upward, Kakashi stood in the thick of the mist, trying to spot Zabuza's chakra signature while his eye copied the technique.

A clone. Kakashi quickly swapped his real body with a water clone as clone Zabuza held a kunai to his clone's neck.

"I know a hundred ways to kill a man," Zabuza's voice echoed all around them. "Just give it up. Look at your genin trembling in fear."

Clone Kakashi made a show of glancing back at his three genin. "Don't worry. I won't let my comrades die."

Clone Zabuza slit clone Kakashi's throat. His body turned into liquid, splashing onto the ground, while another clone of Kakashi's appeared behind Zabuza, holding a kunai to his back.

"Good, but not good enough," came Zabuza's mocking voice as his real body approached the two clones. Swinging his blade in a large arc, it cleanly sliced both clones in half. Both turned into a puddle of water, much to Zabuza's surprise.

"No matter, I'll go for your genin to force your real body to come out!"

Even with such a heavy blade, Zabuza ran at such speed towards the genin that the regular eye couldn't keep up. The three genins' eyes widened, two of their hands held a shaky kunai in front of them, while the third tried to fake a false sense of bravado. Right as Zabuza's blade was about to come down on them, a sword coated in white chakra intercepted the swing, stopping the blade momentum.

_Clang._

Kakashi's foot moved to kick at Zabuza's torso. Anticipating the move, Zabuza leapt backwards, breaking his blade's contact with Kakashi's sword. Zabuza noted the slight nick in his Executioner's Blade with annoyance, but continued backwards until his feet touched the water.

Water was his territory.

Zabuza grinned as Kakashi stupidly followed him onto the water, leaving quite a distance between the two of them. Sheathing the sword back into his back, Zabuza began the hand sequence for a water dragon attack. From across the water, Kakashi mimicked him. Both executed the jutsu at the same time, the two water dragons clashing head to head. While Zabuza contemplated his next move, Kakashi ran through another set of hand seals, faster than the eye can see.

A large water wave formed just as the two water dragons dissipated back into droplets of water, crashing right into Zabuza. The force from the torrent of water carried him out of the water, back onto the land, before Zabuza's back crashed into the trunk of a tree. Four kunais followed, hitting its mark in each of his four limbs.

Kakashi raised a kunai, ready to slice Zabuza's neck when two senbons came from the left side, piercing Zabuza's neck. Blood splattered into the air as the large man fell face down onto the ground, landing with a loud thunk.

A mist hunter nin was perched atop a nearby branch.

Two fingers were pressed against Zabuza's neck, checking for a pulse. Dead. The hunter nin hopped down from his spot, landing deftly in front of Zabuza's prone body.

"Thank you for weakening him."

Kakashi watched with narrowed eyes as the hunter nin proceeded to drape Zabuza's arm over his shoulder. With one hand, both of them disappeared in a swirl of wind.

There was something suspicious about the hunter nin, but Kakashi had three genins to get back to. Another fight was coming...and he would do well to prepare them for it.

* * *

For three days, Team Seven guarded Tazuna while he continued to build the bridge. As each day passed, more bridge builders continued to quit, out of fear of retribution. By the end, there were less than ten workers left.

Naruto put his shadow clones to use, aiding the construction workers in hauling over the supplies. Sasuke was left at home to protect Tazuna's family. Sakura was currently wandering through the town per Kakashi's instructions, to see if her observant eye could see anything amist.

The evening following their first encounter with Zabuza, Sakura had been the first to express her doubts that Zabuza was really dead. Although she didn't seem one hundred percent certain, Kakashi was actually impressed that she had caught on. Sasuke seemed interested in what Sakura had to say, while Naruto kept asking a dozen questions, mostly directed at Kakashi himself about whether or not he had actually killed Zabuza.

"Don't hunter nins only bring back the head? Why did the guy take back the entire body?" was Sakura's question.

Kakashi capitalized on the opportunity to remind Naruto once more that the 'boring' information became useful in times like this. That had effectively shut the blonde boy up and got him to sit still to study a scroll. The silence only lasted for an hour until Naruto began demanding that they go training.

Tree walking was the exercise that came to Kakashi's mind, but the three of them had already mastered it, so he set them to spar against each other instead. From time to time, Kakashi would give pointers, correcting their stances, exposing all of their openings, but he was proud to see that their form wasn't as sloppy as it had been before.

Perhaps it was time to actually teach them some D rank jutsus.

Kakashi motioned for the three of them to gather around, handing each of them a piece of chakra paper. Recognition flickered in Sasuke and Sakura's eyes, but Naruto stared blankly at it.

Kakashi sighed. "Maa, someone please explain to Naruto what this is."

Sasuke had been quick to jerk his head off to the side, so that left Sakura to explain to Naruto the purpose of the paper, before going on to the five chakra natures.

"So you're going to teach us a cool jutsu?" was all that Naruto got from the explanation.

Sasuke went first. The paper wrinkled, much to Kakashi's surprise. He had been expecting fire, but he supposed that lightning would give him an element of surprise to anyone who expected the Uchiha to utilize fire.

Naruto went second. The paper split in half. _Like his father, I suppose. _

Sakura's paper crumbled into ashes. Earth, how interesting.

Kakashi promptly handed each of them scrolls containing information about their specific chakra nature, which also contained starter jutsus of their element. Then he disappeared into a puff of smoke before he could hear Naruto's outraged cry of how simple the jutsus were.

Perhaps one day the blonde boy would learn that even the simplest, Academy level jutsus could be the difference between life and death.

The genins, predictably, spent the next three evenings practicing from the scrolls, each of them coming back completely exhausted of chakra. Kakashi briefly wondered if it had been a good idea to start them on a jutsu so early, perhaps teaching them to increase their chakra reserves would have been a better option. Still, it was too late, and Kakashi didn't dare to break his precious genins' concentration. Not when Naruto was focused on learning wind nature jutsus.

It was a very silent and peaceful three days.

On the fourth day, all of Team Seven was instructed to guard the bridge. It was close to being finished, which also meant it was the prime time for Zabuza to come back.

Kakashi's gut feeling was correct.

When Team Seven arrived at the bridge, all of the construction workers were slain. Kakashi pressed Rin's healing crystals into Sakura's hand, instructing her to check if there was anyone alive.

There was a loud chuckle.

"A futile attempt, Kakashi."

The two of them drew their respective weapons at the same time, but made no move to close the distance between them. The mist continued to thicken.

Haku moved at an alarming speed, but Sasuke was easily able to intercept him. Kunai clashed against senbon as the two danced around each other, trying to score a hit. Haku began to form seals with one hand, while his other countered Sasuke's kunai. Drawing from the water below the bridge, a plethora of ice needles formed from above. They rained down on Sasuke while Haku leapt out of the fray.

Sasuke escaped the ice needles unscathed. Leaping into the air, he threw shurikens one after another. Haku backflipped to avoid each one. Sasuke flash stepped to behind Haku. Spinning around, Haku used a kunai to block Sasuke's next attack, ducking as Sasuke's free hand tossed a kunai straight at him. Sasuke followed up with a kick, effectively knocking Haku backwards.

Ice mirrors appeared all around Sasuke.

_Ice style? _Kakashi questioned. One of Rin's kins?

He didn't have time to contemplate the matter any further as Zabuza met him head on, leaving him unable to aid his student. Kakashi shouted at Naruto to watch over the bridge builder and aid Sasuke while the blade met his sword.

Rin felt a flare of chakra coming from the direction of the bridge and made a move in that direction, but three chakra signatures were heading towards town. Deciding that Team Seven could hold their own, Rin darted off into the direction of town, gaining rapidly on the three chakra signatures.

Barging into the house through the window, Rin drop kicked the nearest nin, sending him crashing into the wall. A flick of a senbon, the man holding the kid hostage crumpled to the floor, freeing the kid in the process.

"Mom!" the kid shouted as the third nin dug his kunai deeper in the woman's throat.

"Don't move or this woman dies!" The empty threat was enough to stop the kid to his tracks while Rin eyed the nin in disinterest. All she had to do was stare at him while she waited for her clone to creep up behind him, knocking him out with a single blow to the back of the neck.

Nins? Bandits more likely.

"Are you alright?" Rin asked the two occupants in the room. They both shook their heads as Rin made quick work of tying them up.

"You're leaving?" the kid asked, fear present in his voice as he stared wide eyed at the kunoichi.

"There's fighting on the bridge. I'll need to go assist them."

"Fighting on the bridge?" the kid echoed. "My grandpa is there! But what if more scary men come back?"

Rin placed a hand on top of the kid's head, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry, I'll make sure your grandpa is safe. And I'm sure that you are strong enough to protect you and your mother if anyone else comes."

Determination flared in the kid's eyes. "You got it!"

Smiling at the boy, Rin left her clone with them as her real body teleported to her seal on Kakashi. Her aim had been a bit off, leading to her colliding against Kakashi's shoulders, knocking his swing off course. Her fast reflexes saved them both from being sliced in half.

"That was a terrible entrance," Kakashi murmured, rubbing his sore shoulder. "Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Legendary Swordsman in the Mist."

"Ah, I'll leave him to you," Rin said. "I'm going to go help the kiddos."

She heard the distinct sound of metal clashing against each other as she darted off through the mist, easily pinpointing Sakura's chakra standing off to the side. Naruto and Sasuke's chakra were side by side, surrounded by the enemy chakra.

Passing by Sakura, Rin skidded to a stop in front of the structure made of ice. Ice style? Naruto and Sasuke collapsed on top of each other, with a bunch of senbons piercing through their bodies. Her medically trained eye informed her that none of the vital organs were pierced, but the enemy didn't let up as a shadow flashed from mirror to mirror, senbon raining down on them from all directions.

Rin tossed a senbon into the fray, meeting its mark into the ground right next to the boys. Placing a marking on the outside of the mirror, Rin teleported into the mess, grabbed both boys by the collar of their shirt and jacket and teleported out of the mirror. Making her way back to Sakura, Rin pressed more healing crystals into the young girl's hand, instructing her to pick the needles out and heal them.

The ice structure crumbled behind her. Rin met the enemy nin head on, senbons crashing against senbon. Throughout their battle, she forced the hunter nin backwards. At the edge of the bridge, the hunter nin backflipped into the water below. Rin jumped down to join him, landing right as the water froze beneath the both of them.

"A mistake. You're in my territory now," the hunter nin pointed out.

"Oh really?"

With a one hand sign, the hunter nin summoned tendrils of ice from below. Rin followed suit having predicted the move, and countered with her own, the ice wrapping around each other until it came to a stand still. As she darted across the ice, the hunter nin rained ice needles down at her. A simple ice wall covered her back, the tips of the ice needles breaking upon the impact.

Rin reached the hunter nin, forcing the nin into hand to hand combat. She didn't relent, not giving the nin another opening to form any hand seals.

"How do you know ice style?" the hunter nin hissed from behind the mask.

"I should be asking you that. I am the heir of the technique."

The hunter nin froze, giving Rin the opening that she needed to slash her chakra scalpel down his face and torso. The mask cracked in half, the two pieces falling onto the ground.

Rin found herself staring at a familiar set of brown eyes. Just like her own.

"Yuki?" the hunter nin whispered.

Just as Rin was about to reply, the hunter nin's eyes slide in the direction of the bridge. Tossing out a hasty apology, the hunter nin teleported away from her. Rin followed, allowing the teleportation technique to pull her back to Kakashi's side.

Her feet landed on the bridge right in time for her to see Kakashi's Chidori slam right through the hunter nin's chest, who intercepted the blow for Zabuza.

Rin found herself screaming, "Wait!" as blood splattered all over Zabuza and Kakashi. Kakashi jerked his head backwards at the sound of her voice, but that was the opening that Zabuza needed to swing his blade, ready to slice through his own comrade and Kakashi. Kakashi's Sharingan registered the movement and he promptly teleported next to Rin, pulling the hunter nin along with him.

Two senbons later, one in each arm, Rin had effectively sliced through the tendons in both of his arms that allowed for movement. Zabuza froze, his blade slipping out of his grasp.

"How could you be so heartless to kill your own comrade?" Rin demanded.

"He was merely a tool," Zabuza stated through gritted teeth.

Before Rin could retort, an unfamiliar voice chimed in. "My, my, you really outdid yourself this time, Zabuza."

The owner of the voice belonged to a short man wearing small framed sunglasses with a cane in front of him. A group of bandits with mismatched weapons appeared behind him.

"It's a good thing that you are on your deathbed anyways," Gato continued. "Did you really think I was going to pay you? Besides, I have to get revenge on the boy for breaking my arm!"

Zabuza chuckled lightly. "Sorry, Kakashi. Our fight ends here."

Zabuza turned towards Gato as the small man began to run. "Hand me a kunai." Rin tossed a kunai to him. Zabuza caught it between his teeth as he began to run at the man, despite the bandits closing in on him.

Rin aided him from afar, her senbons hitting its mark and downing some of the bandits who tried to kill Zabuza.

"A kin?" Kakashi whispered quietly from beside her.

"I think so. He knew my name, my real name."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Rin said sadly. "If I were in his position, I would have done the same to protect you."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Kind of long chapter because I really wanted to cram this entire arc into one instead of dragging it out. Not much has really diverged from canon, so I didn't think it was that important (and the original plan was to leave out this arc anyways) but I felt the connection between Haku and Rin had some significance since I alluded to it back then. Funny thing was that I planned to make Haku her "long lost brother" that Ichika mentioned and he became an orphan and was found by Zabuza (like canon) but then I found out he's supposed to be 15?! so I changed it so he's a kin who was part of a small group that was able to escape the devastation of Land of Ice. Then his canon background follows, found by Zabuza etc. **

**Not sure if I particularly like this chapter, but if there is one good thing that came out of it was that it forced me to rewatch the early episodes! Forgot how good they were! Too bad when I first started watching Naruto the first time, I was 11-12? so I didn't know how to savor it haha. When did you all start watching? **

**Next chapter is called Chunin Exams. It will feature more deviation from canon than Land of Waves arc, so I hope you enjoy!**

**Thanks for reading. Until next time!**

**-MM**


	31. Chunin Exams

**Chapter Thirty: Chunin Exams **

How could Rin refuse the Hokage's request to be head of medical services during the chunin exams when Kakashi had been the one to volunteer her? Without her consent, Rin might add, but when she confronted Kakashi about it, he simply said he wanted to spend more time with her.

How could she refuse?

So Rin didn't and found herself roped into the preparations for the chunin exams. From travelling to Suna to deliver the news about Konoha hosting a nation wide chunin exams, to being the Suna's ambassadors during their stay in the village, to having to be on standby during all phases of the exam, to having to attend every single meeting held for the chunin exams even if it had nothing to do with her.

Kakashi had it easy. All he had to do was nominate his genins and hand them the application forms.

Luckily, Rin dipped out of the meeting before the Hokage could ask her to conduct the preliminary test on the rookie genin. Besides, it was fairer to the genins that Iruka was left with the task as Rin was sure all of them would fail if she was the one conducting the genjutsu.

Let it be known that Rin Nohara didn't cast half assed genjutsus, genin or not.

As a form of payback, Rin dragged Kakashi along as she played host to the Kazekage, his two bodyguards, and Baki, the jonin instructor for the sand genin team. The genin team had wandered off on their own.

The Kazekage didn't seem particularly interested in listening to what Rin had to say, often deflecting to his bodyguards to answer her politely. Konoha and Suna weren't really allies, the Kazekage had only gotten himself in the Third Great Ninja War because Iwa was encroaching on their land. Beyond that, Suna kept to themselves, while Konoha never particularly reached out to establish relations with them.

That had been on Minato sensei's to-do list, but when he died, talks of establishing relations between the villages died.

Rin politely excused herself from the group when a medic nin came to retrieve her for an emergency at the hospital. Kakashi shot her a glare, having seen right through her trick, but he did nothing to verbally protest as she followed after her henged clone. Once the two of them were out of sight, Rin high fived her clone before allowing it to dispel.

Now let's see how Kakashi liked serving as Suna's ambassador against his own will.

Rin couldn't wait until the Kazekage went back to his own village, the first day of the exams. At least the Kazekage wouldn't come back for another month to watch the final round of the exam.

For the first day of the exam, Rin served as one of the many proctors to catch the genins cheating on the written test. It was boring and tedious. Did she mention that it was boring?

Her only source of entertainment was to watch Ibiki use his scare tactics to intimidate the genin, but that quickly ran out.

Kakashi's genins were here somewhere, but Rin didn't particularly care to find out where. They weren't in her row. Besides, she knew they would pass even if Naruto didn't know how to answer a single question. All they needed was courage and Naruto didn't lack it in the slightest.

Tick, tick, tick. Rin lazily called out a number from her row, eliminating a kid who had tried to cheat by peering over at his neighbor's paper multiple times.

When Ibiki called time for the tenth question, Rin disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving her clipboard behind.

"How did those brats do?" Kakashi asked as Rin appeared in their apartment. He didn't even look up from the page in his book.

"I wouldn't know," Rin responded. "Pulled a page from your book and left the exam before it finished. Thanks for volunteering me by the way, I didn't know being the head of medical services meant I would get roped into doing the menial tasks as well."

Kakashi shrugged. "I just wanted to let you feel my pain at having to do D rank mission all over again. Now you can understand the pain."

Rin shot him a side look. "That's your fault for taking on a team of genin."

He was slightly miffed at the jab. "It's not my fault they had to decide to show teamwork. Believe me, it would have been the last year that I was going to leave my name on the list."

Anyone could see right through Kakashi's act. He wanted a team, even if he would deny it to his dying breath. "Yeah right. Remind me to never take a genin team."

Said genin team successfully made it to the second stage of the exam.

In preparation for the second stage of the exams, Rin had gone through the Forest of Death and placed one marking every half a kilometer, in case of medical emergencies. If the nature of the second exam held true, then there would definitely be a need for her to go out on the field. At least Rin wouldn't be bored this time around.

As a form of congratulations for passing the first exam, Kakashi gave all three of them sensei's three pronged kunai. The only difference was that he replaced the sealing formula for his own use. Of course, Kakashi neglected to inform them of the true use of the kunais, leading to Naruto scoffing at the weird weapon, Sasuke's reluctance to carry around the thing. Sakura was the only one who wordlessly took the weapon.

One day, when Naruto knew the true origin of the weapon, he wouldn't call it weird.

All of the jonin senseis retreated to the operating room, to view the grainy footage.

Anko kept the atmosphere light by roping other jonins into placing bets on which genin team would reach the tower first. Naturally, each jonin sensei was inclined to bet on their own team, but couldn't help but acknowledge that the sand team, in particular, was tearing through the forest at a rapid rate.

Kakashi declined to place any bets, already set on the idea that his team wouldn't finish the exam first. To emphasize his point, a finger pointed in the direction of the screen, where Naruto had just been ambushed on his way to relieve himself.

Rin had left the room twice, one to administer an antidote for a genin who had stupidly decided to eat some poison berries, and two, to save a group of genin from death after their encounter with the sand nins. Both groups were disqualified from the second round of exams and were directed to the exits.

She flashed back to the operating room, making almost every jonin in the room flinch save for Kakashi and Anko.

"Yondaime's handy technique, huh?" Anko commented. "Maybe with you around, no one will die in this round."

Right as she finished speaking, all of the screens of the cameras blacked out. Anko cursed, spitting out the dango stick in her mouth as she ordered the technicians to figure out what was wrong. As if things couldn't get worse, Genma burst into the room, announcing that they had found a dead body belonging to a Grass nin near the edge of the forest.

Rin sensed a malicious spike of chakra, belonging to a very familiar man. She focused, trying to pinpoint his location. Her eyes snapped open in shock after realizing who the dead snake was targeting.

"Kakashi, dead snake attacking your students."

Before any of the other jonins in the room could ask the two of them what the hell was going on, Kakashi had flashed out of the room. Rin followed a second after him.

"Take me to the body," Anko ordered Genma, brushing aside the bottom of the trenchcoat to reach for a kunai. "The rest of you, get those cameras working again."

The first thing that Kakashi saw was an elongated neck heading straight for Sasuke when he landed. His gut instinct was to grab Sasuke by the back of his shirt, hauling him out of Orochimaru's range. Rin landed next to him on the forest ground a moment later, taking the boy off of his hands, while also retrieving Naruto, who had been pinned to a tree by the fabric of his jacket.

With both boys in hand, Rin moved to get them away from Orochimaru, shouting at a frozen Sakura to get moving. Scrambling to her feet, Sakura ran after Rin.

"Report," Rin ordered a still trembling Sakura while her hands began to glow green. Naruto was already healing, due to the Kyuubi's chakra, but she needed to fix the seal on his stomach again.

With a quivering voice, Sakura proceeded to recount all of the events to the best of her abilities. Their battle sounded so reminiscent of Kakashi and Rin's own encounter with Orochimaru a decade ago, having been caught in his paralysis genjutsu.

"He's after Sasuke," Sakura revealed. "I don't know why, but he kept saying something about taking his body and the snake man was implanting ideas of achieving more power into Sasuke's mind."

Just as Itachi predicted, Orochimaru was after him.

After fixing Naruto's seal and fixing the worst of Sasuke's wound, Rin pressed a few healing crystals into Sakura's hand.

"Go and take your teammates to safety. Kakashi and I will handle the rest."

Leaving a stupified Sakura in the clearing, Rin teleported back to Kakashi's side, just in time to grab Kakashi out of the way of one of Orochimaru's snake summons. Rin didn't spot any wounds on Kakashi, but she gave him an antidote for Orochimaru's poison anyways.

"What a cute scene. The two terrified Anbu kids are all grown up now." His abnormally long tongue darted out of his mouth to lick his lips.

"I think you'll find that we aren't the same scared kids anymore," Kakashi stated, brandishing the sword from his back. Lightning chakra crackled along the length of it as Kakashi teleported to the marking he left on the snake, cleanly slicing the snake's head in half. The summon puffed out of existence.

Just as Rin felt Orochimaru molding his chakra to cast a genjutsu, she beat him to it, placing a triple layer genjutsu all around him. Orochimaru was rapidly breaking through the layers, but that was just enough time for Rin to reach him, chakra scalpel already in hand. Right as he broke through the last layer, the palm of her hand touched his hand, imprinting her marking on there. Her bare hand then caught the sharp edge of the sword that came out his mouth as her hand sliced deeply into his left arm.

Orochimaru stumbled backwards, gripping his bleeding arm.

"I already sliced through all of the major tendons in your arm," Rin told him. "You can't win."

Orochimaru hissed in pain. "You'll pay for this." Before either of them could blink, Orochimaru was gone.

There were no traces of his chakra signature anywhere in the village.

"His scent completely disappeared," Kakashi said as he hopped onto the branch next to her. "We should have killed him when we had the chance. He's going to come back again."

"If we can even kill him," Rin responded wryly. "We're a lot stronger than we were back then, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet."

"How are my students?"

"They'll live. I healed their life threatening injuries, but didn't have time to heal the rest. Besides, it'll give them an unfair playing field if I healed them all the way, right?"

Kakashi snorted in amusement before the two of them flashed to the Hokage's office to report their findings.

* * *

It was in that moment that Sakura envied Rin sensei's healing capabilities. The most that Sakura could do was to drag her teammates to a nearby cave to take shelter. Making use of Rin sensei's healing crystals, Sakura snapped one in half, allowing the healing chakra to seep through Sasuke's body. A thorough check over of Naruto revealed that his wounds were completely healed.

Sakura felt utterly useless. She was a genjutsu type, but she had frozen stiff in the snake man's genjutsu. If it hadn't been for Sasuke, Sakura had no doubt that she would be dead already. And the snake man's summons? It was Naruto who took care of them all, while her brain was screaming at her to retreat.

That was the textbook answer to her move in that type of situation, but neither Sasuke or Naruto gave up, despite being severely outclassed. Sakura stayed too, but for what? To scream at Sasuke that the snake man was coming at him from behind and to pin Naruto to a tree with a measly kunai?

No amount of textbook information would have, could have, prepared her for that situation. And now Sakura was at a loss as to what to do.

With both of her teammates unconscious, they were easy pickings as she was the weakest member of their team. However, one glance at her two teammates, Sakura felt a flare of determination rise up within her.

She was going to give it her best shot. The least Sakura could do was to stall for time until her teammates woke up.

The textbook answer to what to do in this type of situation told her to set traps and even douse the area with a couple of genjutsus to mask their presence. Sakura didn't know any genjutsu, so she stuck with doing the former, spending a good part of the next hour rigging traps all around the cave.

Right as she finished setting her last trap, she felt three chakra signatures heading straight for them.

The first Sound nin stepped into the clearing, tripping over one of the wires. As the nin caught his footing, a large log came swinging at him. Shouting at his teammates as a warning, Dosu dodged, mentally scoffing the lame attempt to catch them off guard. While Dosu was busy smirking, Sakura tossed three shurikens from the trees, jamming them into the holes in his arm guards.

Sakura quickly moved away. Kin sunk three senbons in the trunk of the tree, letting out an annoyed tsk that the kunoichi had gotten away so quickly. Grumbling in anger, Dosu plucked out the shuriken in his arm guard.

Her green eyes didn't miss the movement. _So that's the source of his jutsu._

Cutting the wire attached to her next trap, Sakura unleashed a rain of kunai down at the three nin. Zaku hopped in front of his two teammates, holding out both of his arms to launch a stream of air pressure, knocking back all of the kunai while Dosu sent a high pitched sound along with Zaku's attack. Sakura clasped her hands to her ears at the screeching noise, forcing herself to keep one eye open to watch as her kunais failed to hit its mark.

Her eyes widened when three senbons came her way, two piercing her arm and another in her leg. The pain snapped her out of her stupor and Sakura forced her aching body to move as Zaku aimed his hands in the direction of the cave.

Throwing herself in front of the cave, Sakura slowly formed the hand seals, slamming both hands into the ground just as Zaku unleashed his jutsu once more. A frail earth wall came up to shield the three of them from the worst of the attack, doing its job in diverting the sound waves off to the side. Running up along her earth wall, Sakura used a boost of chakra to propel herself to the other side.

Hands forming the signs for a substitution jutsu, Sakura slipped back into the trees as Kin threw two kunais at her replacement. A puff of smoke revealed the replacement log. Zaku spotted her coming from above.

Sakura's hands moved once more to perform the substitution jutsu, but didn't bother to complete the last sign. Throwing her arm in front of her face, shuriken buried its way into her arm and leg. Zaku's focus wasn't on her anymore, but looking around for her real body.

Until a drop of blood fell onto his face.

Right as Zaku faced upwards once more, Sakura was on him, jamming two kunais into the hole in his arm. Channelling chakra to her arm, the boost of strength was enough for her to embed the kunai completely into the tunnel, even tearing through some of Zaku's skin. Zaku yelped in pain, backing away from her.

Sakura ducked the three senbons from Kin, but failed to realize Dosu's presence behind her. He kicked her square in the back, making her collapse face first in the dirt as his foot came down to clamp on top of her head.

"You'll pay for what you did to Zaku," Dosu hissed. "Kin."

As Kin raised her senbons once more to pierce Sakura's vital points, her green eyes noted a flash of orange and blue. The blue flashed in front of her, knocking all of the senbons off course, while the orange mass went to tackle Dosu. Feeling the pressure off of her head, Sakura rolled out of the way, clutching her bleeding forehead.

Dosu attempted to send another sound through the air, but with Sakura's warning, Naruto effectively countered it with a wind jutsu, sending the sound back to Dosu. Grimacing as he stumbled backwards, Dosu raised his arm guard to block against Naruto's kunai, but was too slow to prevent the Naruto clones jumping on his back, holding his limbs in place.

Meanwhile, Sasuke performed a fire jutsu, forcing Kin to jump into the air. Following her into the air, Sasuke kicked her higher, wrapping his arms around her before whirling the two of them on the descent below. Kin's head smashed against the earth and the girl fell unconscious.

Zaku's hoarse cry drew Sasuke's attention onto the man. Zaku struggled to get to his feet, his useless arms swaying in front of him.

"Stop!" Dosu shouted. "The scroll is in my weapons pouch. Let us go."

Clone Naruto dug into Dosu's weapons pouch, pulling out an Earth scroll. Nodding to Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto cautiously released Dosu, allowing him to leapt over to Kin, then to Zaku. Grabbing both of his teammates, Dosu fled into the safety of the forest.

"We got the scroll!" Naruto announced, holding the scroll victoriously in the air.

Sakura pushed herself up from the ground, yanking the senbon and shurikens out of her flesh. Reaching into her weapons pouch, Sakura retrieved the last healing crystal, snapping it in half and allowed the soothing healing chakra to close her aching wounds.

"Can you walk?" Sasuke asked her.

With a grimaced smile, Sakura hopped to her feet. "Yeah. Let's head to the tower."

They were the fourth team to make it. When Kakashi heard about it later from Anko, a proud smile graced his features.

* * *

At the end of the fifth day, all twenty one genins stood line by line as they awaited for the Third Hokage to appear. While the rookie nine greeted each other, the rest of the teams chatted amongst each other in soft whispers.

The jonins were starting a running bet on how late the Hokage was going to be, since Kakashi was last seen in the Hokage's office.

When Hiruzen did appear, only ten minutes late, Asuma clapped Kakashi knowingly on the back. Kurenai muttered a sarcastic congratulations for being early, by Kakashi's standards. Kakashi took it all in stride, even tossing a "thank you" to Kurenai.

No one missed Anko's snickers or the amused look on Genma and Raidou's faces. From besides them, Rin shot them a glare, motioning for them to hush as the Hokage began his usual spiel on the importance of being a ninja.

At the end of his spiel, Hiruzen officially began the preliminary matches to narrow down the number of fights in the final stage.

Twenty genins - one had dropped out - was a record breaking high for the third stage. It was the first time that they had this many, but then again, it was Konoha's first time hosting an international chunin exam.

Hayate remained down on the floor as proctor, with Sasuke and Yoroi as the first match. The rest of the genins and their respective jonin instructors filed up the steps to the stands. Anko, Genma, and Raidou joined the Hokage, flanking him on both sides. Rin had chosen to follow Kakashi and the rest of his team to the stands.

It was a clear division between nations. All twelve Konoha genins on one side of the stands, while the other eight from various countries were on the other side. Rin caught Baki's eyes and she flashed him a courteous smile and mouthed "congrats" for his team making it through. Baki didn't return the favor.

"Ano," Sakura began, catching both Rin and Kakashi's attention. "Who was that snake man in the forest?"

"Yeah," Naruto piped in. "What happened to him?"

"And why was he after Sasuke?" Sakura proceeded to add.

"His name is Orochimaru," Kakashi began, as Sasuke's battle began. "He's not your opponent, so if you ever see him again, throw the special kunai that I gave you. Now, don't you want to watch Sasuke's fight?"

That had done the trick in getting the two genins to turn back to the battle, watching it with earnest. When Yoroi pinned Sasuke down to the floor, Naruto began to shout all kinds of insults at Sasuke. To an outsider, it was confusing, but to Team Seven, they understood.

Naruto was fueling Sasuke on.

In the next moment, Sasuke was seen to be kicking Yoroi off of him, sending him flying across the arena. Crossing the area to catch Yoroi as he fell, Sasuke followed it up with another kick, this time pushing him into the air. As Yoroi's body sailed across the air, Sasuke flashed behind him. One hand grabbed the back of Yoroi's shirt, while a leg went up to kick him in the face, but was blocked by his arm. Unbothered, Sasuke swung his other hand, meeting its mark on his head. His body began to fall; Sasuke followed his move by sending a foot crashing into Yoroi's torso right as his back hit the floor.

Knock out.

"Less than three minutes. You have some impressive genin, Kakashi," Gai commented as he stepped closer to Team Seven. "Although your boy did copy one of Lee's moves."

Kakashi cocked his head to the side. "Hmm, did you say something?"

That earned a reaction out of Gai, who began to yell how "cool and hip" Kakashi was, much to the Rookie Nine's dismay. Team Gai could only shake their heads at their sensei's antics, while Lee started shouting how youthful his sensei was.

Sasuke returned to the stands right in time to get in the thick of the commotion.

The second matchup was announced: Zaku against Shino.

A pained look was written all over Sakura's face.

"A nasty encounter in the forest?" Rin inquired. Sakura nodded, then proceeded to explain to them in great detail about what happened in the forest.

"I think they're the snake man's underlings," Sakura confessed. "They were after Sasuke the entire time, not the scroll."

"I see."

"What does he want from me?" Sasuke demanded as the third match was announced. "What do I have that's so valuable?"

"Well, he's after your Sharingan. And of all of the people who have it, you are the most vulnerable," Kakashi answered. "But don't worry. We killed another man in the past who wanted to steal Sharingans too. We'll do it again."

The unmentioned name popped into both of their heads. _Danzo. _

"Besides," Rin added. "Kakashi and I fought Orochimaru once a while back. We're prepared this time."

That was enough to ease Sasuke's worries. The conversation died down as the fourth match was announced: Sakura vs Ino. Sakura's eyes widened, eyes flickering to Ino who confidently strode down to the arena.

"Good luck, Sakura." Rin nudged the pink haired girl towards the stairs. Absently, the girl nodded, as her feet carried her down to the arena below.

"Oi, Kakashi, your genin doesn't stand a chance against mine," Asuma called. Kakashi didn't look a bit ruffled at the comment.

"You know, Sakura's abilities remind me a lot of Rin's, so we'll see how she turns out in a couple of years."

Much to Team Asuma's surprise, the girl managed to pull a win. In the beginning, it seemed that Sakura and Ino were evenly matched. Towards the climax of the fight, Ino had tricked Sakura, rendering her unable to move as she used her clan's jutsu to possess Sakura's mind. Sakura had been on the verge of announcing her defeat when Naruto's loud shouts of encouragement helped Sakura to push Ino out of her mind.

Then Sakura proceeded to catch Ino off guard with a simple earth jutsu, to manipulate the ground making it move. While Ino was caught off balance, Sakura pushed chakra to the soles of her feet, boosting her speed before landing a hit on Ino's face, sending her flying into the wall with enough force to knock the other woman out.

After Hayate announced Sakura as victor, Sakura promptly passed out on the floor from chakra exhaustion. Their respective senseis went down to retrieve them as Hayate announced the fifth match.

A quick check determined that they are both fine.

"Just chakra exhaustion," Rin announced to the worried boys. "They'll be up in a bit."

The fifth match ended quickly. Rin went to Tenten, healing the fractures on her spine bone. In three minutes, the girl was up on her feet again with a thank you.

The sixth match had been interesting to watch, simply because it was Shikamaru. And watching the Nara clan outwit their opponent was always entertaining because just when everyone thought the Nara was going to lose, they pulled a fast one over everyone's head.

"Just like his father, huh?" Kakashi murmured to himself. Seeing his son in the arena below reminded him how old Kakashi was getting. It seemed like not too long ago when Fox, his Anbu captain, was announcing his retirement because he had a kid on the way. And now said kid has grown up…

The seventh match was Naruto vs Kiba, much to the former's excitement. He hopped over the railing, landing and bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet.

The match began and it was beginning to seem like Naruto was going to lose. Kurenai even mentioned that much to Kakashi, who tossed back a wait and see type of response.

And of course the "number one unpredictable hyperactive knucklehead ninja" had a few tricks up his sleeve and managed to turn the tables on Kiba, effectively taking the win.

"Three for three, not bad," Kakashi commented lazily as Naruto returned to the stands. He didn't bother to return Naruto's high five.

Eighth match. The Hyuga cousins. As the match progressed, Naruto swore up and down that he was going to change Neji's mindset and his ridiculous notion of fate. When Hinata was announced to be the loser, Naruto declared that he would get revenge for Hinata.

Rin teleported down to the Hyuga heiress' side, and began initial treatment for her wounds while the other medics brought over a stretcher. Behind her, the other jonin senseis were holding Neji back from landing another hit on her.

The ninth match was nothing noteworthy. Choji had given his best effort but that hadn't been enough to pull him through to the finals.

The tenth match however had everyone's attention, especially when Lee was able to land a hit on Gaara, even with his impenetrable sand defense. That had angered the beast inside of Gaara, leading to the loud voice screaming in his mind to kill the boy.

The sand wrapped around Lee's leg, crushing it into bits.

Lee was the second to be rushed to the hospital while the Hokage wrapped up the preliminaries, finalizing the matchups for the third round, and announcing that it would commence in a month's time.

Gai rushed to the hospital immediately after the conclusion of the preliminaries, demanding to know Lee's current condition. His two teammates followed after their sensei, concern etched all over Tenten's face while Neji remained apathetic.

"If he ever wants to be a ninja again, he'll need another surgery on his leg," Rin explained as she allowed the three of them into Lee's hospital room. "The first one was successful in stabilizing his condition. However, the chances of success for the next surgery are astronomically low, so I'll need some time to do some research to increase his chances."

And Rin did plan to use the following month in between the second and final round of the chunin exams to do just that.

Until a pink haired girl ruined all of her plans by asking Rin to take her on as a student.

How could she refuse?

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Chunin exams was fun to write, but like the last arc, I glossed over the events that remained the same (mainly the preliminary fights). Not sure why Kabuto doesn't exist here, I lowkey forgot he participated in the exams until I was editing the chapter lol. It's been way too long since I've watched Naruto lol, might start rewatching during quarantine if I get bored enough (though I don't think I will because I'm busy writing :P). **

**No curse mark Sasuke this time mainly because of Itachi's tip off so they were more alert this time around. Besides, Sasuke's not too hell bent on revenge this time around; he's actually surprisingly normal? haha **

**I couldn't find much on exactly which villages participated in the original chunin exams (I'm wagering that only Sand - out of the other 4 Great Nations - participated since they only showed 2 Kages during the final round), but I'm going to run off of the assumption that all 5 villages received an invitation, but not all decide to participate. You'll see why next chapter, since it features an old friend. :) **

**Next chapter is called The Final Round. Features part 2 of the chunin exams (and things that you probably anticipate to happen). **

**Thank you for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	32. The Final Round

**Chapter Thirty One: The Final Round **

When all three of his students made it to the final round, Kakashi couldn't help but to feel proud of them. But when all three of his students came to him for training for the upcoming exam, he was at a loss. Logically, there was no way he could teach all three of them, not unless he dedicated himself to solely teaching which was impossible. There were still missions that he needed to take, that needed his skillset.

And by teaching all of them at the same time, would reveal their skillset to each other, when they would inevitably be pitted against each other in the later rounds.

Sasuke against Gaara. Naruto against Neji. Sakura against Kankuro.

Kakashi knew exactly what he was going to teach Sasuke to help him against Gaara's impenetrable shield of sand, but he was at a loss as to what to teach Naruto and Sakura. The most he could teach Sakura at this point were more earth style jutsus or genjutsu if she was interested, neither of which would be very helpful against a puppet user.

Rin was more suitable to teach Sakura to utilize her excellent chakra control to her advantage and Kakashi even told her as much.

"Can you ask for me?" Sakura requested. "I want to learn under her guidance, but I'm scared that she'll say no."

To which Kakashi responded with, "She'll only say no to those who don't have the determination or courage to learn."

Later that night, Rin would inform him that his student sought her out at the hospital and that she had taken on a genin student, despite saying she never would.

Finding a teacher for Naruto was harder. Kakashi supposed that he could teach Naruto the Rasengan or how to control the Kyuubi's chakra, but there happened to be a more suitable teacher in town. He wasn't hard to find; he was at the hotsprings like always.

"Yo."

That had been enough to scare a Sannin level ninja, making Jiraiya jump backwards with fear etched across his face. When he noticed that it was only Kakashi and not an angry woman who caught him peeking, Jiraiya relaxed, only marginally.

Kakashi found it amusing that a shinobi of his caliber could only be off guard when peeping on women.

"Long time no see, Kakashi. Did you need something?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Kakashi didn't hesitate to say. "Naruto needs someone to train him and I decided that you would be the perfect candidate."

"Whoa, whoa," Jiraiya said, holding his hands out in front of him, palms facing towards Kakashi. "What makes you think I'll agree?"

"Well I'm sure Sensei will be disappointed that you won't lend a helping hand to his son," Kakashi tried.

"You're his sensei. Why don't you teach him?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Well my hands are tied. All of my genins made it to the next round, you see. I mean if you don't care about Sensei's wrath, then I guess I can tell those women that you've been peeping at them."

To emphasize his point, he pointed a finger in the direction of the window sills, where Jiraiya had been trying to take a peek with his binoculars.

"Fine, fine. You win this one, Hatake."

* * *

A day before the third exams, important people from all over the world filtered into Konoha, including many Daimyos and the Kages from the other villages, even if there were no genins from their villages participating.

It was a momentous day. It was the first time in a long time that all of the Kages were gathered together for one event.

Sakura noted the special visitors around the village, but didn't pay much attention to any of them, until she accidentally ran into one, in her haste to deliver the documents on hand to the hospital. When she looked up, her green eyes widened as she took in the red undershirt topped by a brown version of their flak jacket.

Iwa. Konoha's enemy during the last great war.

"Sorry," Sakura apologized, bowing her head to the Iwa nin.

"Watch where you are going next time, gaki," the Iwa nin spat.

"Kitsuchi, stand down," the Tsuchikage ordered. Kitsuchi did as his leader asked, retreating to stand beside the Tsuchikage.

"Thank you, now if you'll excuse me…" Sakura never did finish her sentence because the Tsuchikage's attention was no longer on her. Instead, his eyes were looking at something over her shoulder, leading his two guards to follow his line of sight as well.

Sakura did the same, whirling around to see what was so interesting and found that the Tsuchikage had been staring at Rin and Kakashi, who were casually walking down the street side by side. Rin was saying something, nudging Kakashi lightly on the shoulder, before pointing straight in their direction. Recognition flickered in Kakashi's eyes.

The two of them stopped in front of the Iwa trio plus Sakura. Sakura took the opportunity to reposition herself behind Rin, clutching the medical documents tightly to her chest as she waited to see how the events would play out.

"What a pleasure to see you again, Tsuchikage sama," Rin greeted. Sakura couldn't tell if the woman was being sarcastic or not.

"Likewise," Onoki responded. "It seems the two of you have been doing well since our last encounter. How are the other two kiddos doing?"

"Well I'm sure you've already heard all about it," Rin answered without missing a beat. "You'll have to ask them yourself since we've haven't seen them in a while. Five years to be exact."

Way to keep it vague. Sakura gained nothing from the conversation although it did peak her curiosity at how Rin and Kakashi met the Tsuchikage in the first place. Perhaps during war? And who were the other two people that the Tsuchikage mentioned?

"Well I suppose I did get my wish on meeting you under more pleasant circumstances again. This is my son, Kitsuchi. This is Rin; she was the one who saved your brother's life."

Rin and Kakashi exchanged one those knowing looks. The one that Sakura had seen multiple times and it seemed that they did it when they were recalling something only the two of them knew about. Or when they were seemingly sharing an inside joke.

Sakura hated being left out of the loop, but if the hospital gossip was accurate, then the two of them had history since the age of nine. Then again, the hospital had a lot of gossip concerning her two senseis, so Sakura wasn't quite sure what to believe anymore.

"Pleasure to meet you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to train my student for her upcoming match tomorrow."

Onoki waved her off. "Of course it's not a problem. Just remember my offer of hosting your wedding in Iwa is still open."

Rin laughed. "And the venue? In the holding cells in your village?"

"Of course," Onoki responded without missing a beat. "That's the place where it all started, right?"

Sakura was extremely mind boggled at how her sensei could so casually banter with the Tsuchikage like they were old friends. Even as Rin dragged her along to the direction of the hospital, Sakura's mind was still reeling from their encounter with the Tsuchikage and his envoys.

She had been so lost in her own thoughts, Sakura didn't realize that she had arrived at the hospital until she was already inside of Rin's office. Kakashi sensei was nowhere to be seen at this point and Rin was currently taking all of the documents out of Sakura's hold and passing them off to one of the medics in training to file.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Rin commented. "Tell me, what's eating at you?"

"You...the Tsuchikage." Oh gosh, Sakura couldn't even form proper words at this point.

"We have history way back in the day," Rin merely said. "I would tell you, but it's classified. Interested in diplomacy?"

"Ehh, no no. Nothing of that sort. Say, can you teach me…"

* * *

For someone who was supposed to be on standby during the matches to give medical treatment, Rin was doing a poor job. One, she wasn't even in the arena. Two, she was going to be extraordinarily late at the rate she was going, even more so than Kakashi.

But it wasn't her fault that everything seemed to be working against her this morning. First, it had been an emergency at the hospital that sent everyone into a frenzy. It had been the combination of a Feudal Lord's heart failing, a nurse administering the wrong shot to another patient, and to top it off, one of the medical interns misplaced all of the patients' files. With most of the higher ranking medical staff in the stadiums for the chunin exams, the moment it happened, everything fell apart.

And Rin had been the one they had called on to fix the situation, thinking that she would be more lenient than the head of the hospital. They were wrong. No matter what level of the hospital they were in, every staff member could hear every word that came out of Rin's mouth, with clarity. Most of it had been curse words. Some of it was orders. The worst of it was when she ranted about the incompetence of the staff and issued suspensions to all of the staff involved. The medical intern was never to be seen again.

By the time that Rin left the hospital, everyone could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears. No one dared to utter a word until she was at least a kilometer away from the hospital, to which everyone let out a relieved sigh.

No one had anticipated that Rin would inherit her shishou's temper from her usual interactions with them, but of course, it was always the nice ones that were a ticking time bomb.

The second had been when Raidou found her on the way to the chunin exams arena, informing her that they had progressed to the second match already and Kakashi and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen. If Sasuke didn't make it in time for his match, he would be automatically disqualified.

Rin didn't see how it was her problem that Kakashi was late, thereby dragging his student along with him, but Rin sent Raidou along with the promise that she would retrieve Kakashi. And she really intended to, until her search for Kakashi's chakra signature led her to sense Orochimaru's chakra signature. In the village.

Abandoning all thoughts of finding Kakashi, Rin sped across the rooftops of Konoha in the direction of the Forest of Death. Using Hiraishin to get there faster briefly crossed her mind, but she needed to conserve her chakra in case a fight broke out. If Orochimaru was in the village, then a fight would undoubtedly break out.

Rin could only hope she would make it in time.

Two kunai with explosive tags dispelled the large snake summon that appeared in the clearing close to where Orochimaru had attacked Team Seven last time. As the large summon disappeared into a puff of smoke, Orochimaru's chakra signature died down until it was a mere flicker.

Chakra suppression?

She didn't have time to finish her train of thought as Rin was forced to dodge, the blade of Orochimaru's Kusanagi slicing through the air besides her. The action forced her off of the branch and Rin barely had time to land on the ground when Orochimaru followed up with a fire style attack. Rolling out of the way, Rin launched three senbons at him and felt for the familiar tug of the mark on Orochimaru.

But it wasn't there. And despite using his chakra, Orochimaru's signature was still faint.

A clone! Rin barely managed to escape the slew of snakes that came out of his sleeve unscathed.

"Where's your real body?" she demanded. Her chakra scalpel sliced through another snake summon the moment clone Orochimaru summoned it.

"Kukuku, so you've figured it out, huh? Very impressive, but regardless, you'll be too late to stop it."

"Stop what?"

"An invasion of the Leaf of course," Orochimaru answered. Evil laughter followed his declaration. "A Suna and Oto joint invasion. Isn't that brilliant?"

Her eyes widened. Rin made a move to leave, but clone Orochimaru stopped her attempt by engaging her in hand to hand combat. While Rin matched his blow for blow, her mind was trying to pinpoint where his real body was.

Like a blinking dot in her mind landscape, she latched onto the marking that she had planted in their last battle. Throwing one last punch at clone Orochimaru, Rin allowed Hiraishin to carry her across the village. Her feet didn't even touch the rooftop when a man with white hair and blue armor darted in front of her in a blur of blue, thwarting her attempt to slice off Orochimaru's body.

Whirling around to catch her balance, her foot kicked at the man, who easily caught her foot with both hands. Channeling chakra to the bottom of her foot, she allowed her chakra to travel through the man's hands. One hand formed the tiger seal, making the man's hands blow up into pieces of paper while her other hand sliced cleanly through Orochimaru's left arm as his Kusanagi sword pierced straight through her stomach.

Grabbing the sharp end of his sword and yanking it out of Orochimaru's grasp as he stumbled backwards from the pain, Rin teleported both herself to Hiruzen's side with the sword still embedded into her torso. Dropping to her knees from the exertion and excruciating pain, she began to send healing chakra to her abdomen as her hands rummaged in her weapons pouch for the antidote for Orochimaru's poison.

"Rin!" the Third exclaimed as he saw the woman collapse by his side. One eye was fixated on the three reanimated Hokages, while one was focused on helping the healing woman to her feet.

Shodaime. Nidaime. Yondaime. Fighting Minato alone last time had already been hard enough, but to fight against three Hokages at once? No wonder Hiruzen had been fighting a losing battle.

"Forgive us," Hashirama said with a sad smile on his face. "We are not in control of our own actions. Please stop us."

"Rin, you need to leave," Hiruzen urged as she pulled out Kusanagi from her stomach. "If you stay, you'll die."

"And you'll die if I do," Rin countered. "There's no way you can fight all three Kages by yourself. Besides, you'll need my help to take down the Yondaime."

Minato smiled. "You've grown up."

Faster than the eye could follow, Rin and Minato both tossed their respective weapons. The three pronged kunai for him, a senbon for her. In the next moment, they both teleported to their weapons right before it reached them. With the Kusanagi sword extended outward, it sliced through Minato's torso as they passed each other.

Rin caught her senbon midair, launching at Tobirama who was located in her seven o'clock direction. He jumped out of the way, stopping his jutsu. In the next second, Rin teleported to him, bringing down the sword on him. Tobirama blocked it with his armor with enough force to knock the blade out of her hands. Completing the hand seal, a large torrent of water surrounded them. Scaling up the wall of water, Rin channelled chakra to her feet and sent it into the water, adding wind nature to the mix. The water froze over, stopping Tobirama's attempt at executing another water jutsu.

A flash of yellow appeared and she ducked. Minato's kunai slashed against the ice wall behind her instead. Quickly forming the seals, she manipulated the ice, sharp shards of ice sticking out along the wall. Minato was quick to get away before he was stabbed.

Hashirama's wood style technique forced Rin to retreat, ducking and dodging as the trees attempted to trap her. She tossed three senbons in various directions as she backflipped along one of the branches of the tree, to avoid another branch that had attempted to curl around her ankle.

Hiruzen's groan diverted her attention for a split second. That was enough for an unsuspecting branch to wrap around her ankle, pulling her down into the canopy, while three more branches wrapped around her other limbs, rendering her unable to move. Rin attempted to break free of her holdings by concentrating her chakra to her arms, but the wood immediately sucked away from her chakra.

She fell limp in her holdings, panting heavily as her eyes slid over to the Third Hokage who was in the same predicament, except worse. His chakra levels were low, lower than she had ever felt it being.

Orochimaru appeared in their line of sight, flanked by the three dead Hokages.

"A valiant attempt to stop me, sensei," Orochimaru said, chucking to himself. "But I'm afraid you are getting too old for this. Even your little Anbu kunoichi held her own against the Kages better than you did, but unfortunately, it's the end of the road for you."

"Even if I die," Hiruzen responded through gritted teeth. "Konoha will persevere. You'll never be able to extinguish our Will of Fire."

"Is that so? What will Konoha do when their leader is dead, huh? Won't it just be like the Yondaime's death all over again, with the village in chaos?"

"You're the one who killed the Yondaime," Rin hissed.

"Of course I did," Orochimaru snapped back. "I was supposed to be elected Yondaime, not the stupid Yellow Flash. And I would have been the Godaime if it hadn't been for you two! You, for exposing all of my research and you, for not stepping down as Kage. And both of you will die today!"

Orochimaru's tongue stuck out and he pulled out another sword from his mouth. He charged towards Hiruzen, blood dripping from his left arm with every step he took. Rin broke out of her captivity by teleporting to her mark on Hiruzen. Left hand reached in her weapons pouch, flinging a three pronged kunai straight at Orochimaru. Her chakra scalpels cut through the limbs of the trees, freeing the Third as a clang of sword sounded behind her.

Flashing to Kakashi, Rin covered his back, blocking a blow from Minato and Tobirama.

"You're late."

"Maa, some Oto jonins held me up." Pushing Orochimaru back, Kakashi advanced on him, while Rin forced Minato to retreat, but managed to stay on Tobirama, sticking an explosive tag against his arm. She allowed it to explode, jumping on him to slap a counter seal against his forehead while his body formed.

The tag fell off, fluttering to the ground as Tobirama's half formed body sent a forceful kick into her stomach. Flying backwards a couple of meters, Rin managed to twist her body mid air to land on her feet, kunai ready to block Minato's next attack.

The counter seal didn't work! The one that she had spent the last decade trying to create in anticipation of fighting Orochimaru again...it didn't work.

How were they going to seal the Kages?

Rin vaguely registered the Third Hokage creating three shadow clones as Minato continued to back her into a corner. Flashing out of the way, Rin allowed Minato's Rasengan to crash into Hashirama's tree. Racing to cover Hiruzen's back, she saw Tobirama's hands clap together.

Then it went dark.

An undetectable presence knocked Rin cleanly off of her feet. Her fingers wrapped around the kunai, the sharp edges slicing through her palms as she took another hit in the shoulder.

"Shiki Fuujin," came the Third's voice. Rin gasped, having read about the technique among the Hokage's archives. Pushing herself to her feet, Rin teleported to the Sandaime's side at the same time Kakashi did. The three of them stood back to back in a triangle formation.

"Hokage sama," Rin murmured.

"Can you detect them?" Kakashi asked.

"No," Rin answered. "This jutsu is obscuring my senses."

"Don't worry," Hiruzen said. "I'll end this for once and for all."

Just as quickly as the darkness had fallen upon them, it retreated, revealing all three of Hiruzen's shadow clones in front of each of the reanimated Kages. A phantom hand emerged from Hiruzen's stomach, pulling at the souls of the three Kages.

"Thank you," Hashirama said as Hiruzen sealed him away. Tobirama apologized for causing him trouble while Minato muttered something about it being the last time. All three of Hiruzen's clones dissipated into a puff of smoke.

"Teleport me…" Rin understood, placing a hand on Hiruzen's shoulder. She teleported him to Orochimaru. A phantom hand emerged from Hiruzen's real body, grasping onto Orochimaru's soul. The two of them exchanged words, but Rin and Kakashi were too far away to hear.

Kakashi's chakra levels were disturbingly low as he crumpled to the ground, panting from exhaustion. Pressing her hand to his shoulder, Rin poured one reservoir worth of chakra into his body.

"You didn't even use the Mangekyo this time, baka."

"Hiraishin takes a lot more chakra than I anticipated," Kakashi retorted as the two of them watched Hiruzen finish yanking out Orochimaru's soul. Orochimaru's body crumpled to the floor while Hiruzen shot the two of them one sad smile, words forming on his lips as the Death Reaper finished sealing away all five of their souls.

_I'll leave the future to you. _

The barrier around them fell, allowing the Anbu to enter. The Sound Four quickly retreated upon seeing the death of their leader. The Anbu captain nodded at Rin and Kakashi, picking up Hiruzen's body while the other burned Orochimaru's with a fire style jutsu.

Pulling each other to their feet, Rin and Kakashi stared out at Konoha, the puffs of smoke in the air as Orochimaru's snake summons disappeared. Forming the hand sequence for a summoning jutsu, Rin slammed her hand down to the ground as the black markings began to criss cross her entire body. A large version of Katsuyu appeared and Rin ordered for her to split and use her chakra to heal the injured.

With his newly acquired chakra, Kakashi teleported to his students, only to find that the three of them had already taken care of Gaara. Picking up his three unconscious students, Kakashi carried them to the hospital, which was a complete mess. The upper level of the hospital had been destroyed in the attack and it seemed like there was no one in charge. Injured shinobis were left wherever there was an open spot on the floor. There was no semblance of order as the medics ran around to retrieve the necessary supplies or just continued to heal the injured one by one.

It wasn't until Katsuyu's appearance did the hospital snap into shape as Katsuyu relayed the situation to Rin, who snapped out orders through the correspondence. Leaving his three students in Katsuyu's hands, Kakashi took off into the village.

At this point, word had spread to the Oto shinobis that Orochimaru was dead, leading to their hasty retreat. Upon seeing Oto's retreat, Suna had opted to do the same, knowing that their manpower wasn't simply enough to take out Konoha without Oto's help.

Kakashi showed no mercy on the straggling Oto and Suna shinobis, ordering them to either be killed or taken to Ibiki for mind torture. He spent the rest of the time helping the others, bandaging the wounded and carrying them to the hospital.

All of the well abled shinobi gave a moment of silence for their fallen comrades.

* * *

The death of their Hokage weighed heavily on their minds and hearts as an emergency council was organized to propose a new Hokage to the Fire Daimyo. All of the clan heads were present save for the Uchiha, as were the two Konoha elders, along with the Anbu commander, Wolf. Jiraiya, surprisingly, had shown up. Shikaku wagered his appearance was so that the council couldn't nominate him as Hokage, as they had tried in the past.

Following Rin's departure from the Anbu, she had earned a permanent position on the council as a representative of Konoha's medical department as well for her and Kakashi's service as the Hokage's right hand man for international diplomacy. Their absence wasn't overlooked by the other council members.

"Where's Nohara and Hatake?" Homura questioned, eyeing each individual in the room.

It was Jiraiya who gave him an answer. "They send their apologies for being unable to make the meeting. Rin is currently tied up at the hospital as part of the recovery effort and Kakashi is assisting her."

"I see, in that case we will begin without them," Wolf said, starting the meeting in the Hokage's stead. "I'm sure that you've already heard about the Sandaime's passing. If anyone would like to recommend a suitable candidate for Hokage, please speak up now."

As expected, Jiraiya's name was the first one that was mentioned. Jiraiya promptly rejected the nomination.

"I recommend either Rin Nohara or Kakashi Hatake," Shikaku stated. "They are named to be Hokage sama's successors in case of his unexpected death."

"They are still young," Koharu protested.

"The Yondaime became Hokage at the age of twenty one, five years younger than both of them," Shikaku countered. "I believe their years serving as the Yondaime's personal guards and as the Sandaime's envoys is enough experience for them to take the Hokage position."

"If I may interject," Jiraiya said. "Both of them expressed to me that they do not want to become Hokage unless there is no one else. I nominate Tsunade."

"Will she be willing?" Inoichi questioned.

"I'll convince her. In the meantime, I nominate Shikaku to serve as interim Hokage until I bring Tsunade back."

The council was in unanimous agreement.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**Wow brings back memories of their mission gone wrong in Iwa haha. I know Iwa participating in chunin exams wasn't canon, but in this version, Iwa and Konoha have a good political relationship (see Team Ro's mission in Iwa where Rin saved Onoki's son). Orochimaru is successfully killed this time around; it seems like there's not much that can kill him. I remember him fighting against Naruto after the Kyuubi took over and somehow he survives that too lol. Guess all the immortality research came in handy. **

**Exciting news to share! I finally posted the new story (the AU story that I previously mentioned). It's called In the Name of War and it's Kakashi centric with a good amount of Rin, Obito, and Itachi. I would appreciate it if you took the time to check it out and I hope you'll enjoy that one as much as this story, if not more! :) **

**Another thing: we will be entering Shippuden territory since the arc to bring Tsunade back to the village will follow canon (minus the fight vs Orochimaru) and Sasuke doesn't turn evil lol. The next chapter is an interlude and it's pretty short, so I'm probably going to post that early in the week so there's an actual chapter on Friday. Now that I finished (mostly) writing the other story, I'm going to come back and finish this one haha. **

**Well as always, thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	33. Interlude

**Chapter Thirty Two: Interlude **

As the village slowly rebuilt itself from the ground up, a funeral was arranged for Hiruzen and all of the other fallen shinobis. The entire Sarutobi family was present, including Hiruzen's eldest son and wife, who were both civilians, along with their son Konohamaru. Asuma had chosen to stand among the crowd rather than to join his family, to avoid the pitying looks that the villagers shot at the Sarutobi family.

Kurenai placed a comforting hand on Asuma's shoulder as the funeral commenced. He clenched his fist, his teeth gnawing at his bottom lip in an effort to not cry. Konohamaru had no qualms and tears openly slid down his cheeks during the entire service.

The Sarutobi family said a few words about their father. Jiraiya recounted one of the funniest memories of his sensei, making the crowd chuckle, but wasn't enough to dissipate the somber atmosphere. The Konoha elders also had a few choice words to say about the loss of their dear friend. Shikaku was the last to speak, offering a few words of comfort and a motivational speech about the future that they had to look forward to.

At the end of the ceremony, the crowd scattered, returning to their respective jobs. Civilians to help with the rebuilding efforts. Shinobis to their respective missions and guard duties. Kakashi and Rin went back to the hospital to tend to the injured, with Sakura in tow. Jiraiya slipped out of the village, taking Naruto along with him as he went on the journey to find Tsunade.

All of their hearts were bleeding, but only time could heal their wounds.

While Team Seven was temporarily disbanded, Izumi took Sasuke under her wing to teach him the tricks to the Sharingan. Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, and Team Gai continued to take missions as a team. When they weren't out on missions, they were assigned D rank missions to help with the rebuilding effort.

Shikaku volunteered to help with amping up the security in the village. A group of Anbu were sent to Oto, to demolish the remains of the village. Raiding every last Orochimaru's laboratories, they found many things that sickened them, including many human experiments as well as plethora of notes detailing how he planned to achieve immortality.

From that point forward, Oto was no more and the remaining of Orochimaru's subordinates scattered all across the world, blending in with other villages. None of them dared to approach the Land of Fire.

True to his word, Jiraiya had successfully brought back Tsunade after a two week long trip. According to Naruto, it had taken a bit of a beating for him to knock some sense into the woman, but Tsunade eventually agreed to become the Fifth Hokage. A ceremony was conducted for her inauguration, but no one was really in the mood to celebrate. Tsunade wordlessly took the hat and began her duties as Hokage.

The rebuilding process and security measures under Shikaku's leadership had been handled brilliantly, but he didn't dabble into the other duties of Hokage. The first order of business was to determine who to promote to chunin. Based on the files and accounts from various jonins, Tsunade decided to promote all of Team Seven for their efforts during the invasion as well as Shikamaru, for his performance in his match.

Then came the reassignment of duties and teams to compensate for the positions left empty from those who died. It had taken Tsunade an entire week to get through all of the paperwork that had accumulated.

By the end of that week, Tsunade desperately wished that she was drunk and was starting to regret becoming the Hokage.

By the end of the month, the rebuilding process finished and everything went back to normal. Or as normal as things could ever be.

Shizune became the new head of the hospital, revamping the entire system to be able to accommodate for a large scale invasion in the future. For once, there was a semblance of order, much to many of the lower level ranking medic's relief.

Jiraiya decided that it was time to head back onto the road to continue his research. Before he left, he sought out Kakashi, asking for permission to take Naruto with him. Kakashi waved him off, stating that Naruto wasn't under his care anymore as he had been promoted to chunin. When Jiraiya asked Naruto to accompany him on his journey, Naruto readily agreed.

The remaining members of Team Seven sent him off, waving at his backside as the blob of orange and red became smaller and smaller until the two figures disappeared from their line of sight.

Both Sakura and Sasuke were free to do as they pleased now that they were chunins, but both members were adamant in sticking together. When Kakashi was free, he would still act as team leader for both of them, taking them out for C and B ranked missions while training them along the way.

As Kakashi was busy most of the time, Sasuke was left to his own devices. For the most part, he would train using the instructions that Kakashi left behind or he would seek out Izumi when she was in the village. In the three years that Naruto was gone, Sasuke mastered the use of his Sharingan, lightning nature chakra, and kenjutsu.

If Kakashi was busy, then Rin was equally as busy as both of them were roped into being Tsunade's right hand man for all sorts of missions. From time to time, they would be roped back into doing Anbu missions as well, due to the shortage of Anbu since many had died in the invasion.

That left Rin with little time to train Sakura, so Sakura sought out Shizune to perfect her medical ninjutsu and chakra scalpels. The older medic had been surprised to hear that Sakura already had a thorough understanding of poisons just from training with Rin for a month. Upon hearing the raving compliments from Shizune about the girl's capabilities, Tsunade had taken Sakura under her wing to help her perfect her monstrous strength, which Sakura had begun to learn under Rin.

On the days that Rin was in the village, she aided Sakura with her sensory skills and recommended her to seek out Kurenai for help with genjutsu. Sakura did.

By the time Naruto returned three years later, with a perfected Rasengan and more wind jutsus in his arsenal, Team Seven was stronger than ever.

And ready to take on any obstacle in their way.

* * *

**A/N: Hi! **

**Early update because short chapter so there will be an actual chapter on Friday. Sort of a transition to Shippuden era and from next chapter out, we will rapidly be moving towards the ending (finally, right?!) haha. **

**So I've gotten some comments about Naruto being almost the same personality as canon and that he should be different and I agree, to an extent. Since he does have people to care for him this time around, he's less of a troublemaker and doesn't seek attention as much as he does in canon. However, that doesn't mean he still can't have the same optimistic/ambitious dream outlook. Anyways, I am basing this off of memory and I don't recall any particular instance where it seems like he's attention seeking? If there is, please feel free to point them out to me. :) **

**Either way, if I were to edit this story, there's a lot of things I would change, including Team Seven's role in the story. I guess a fair warning is in order: the upcoming chapters will not feature much of Team Seven at all as they are not the heros/mains of the story. **

**Oops, I promised that I wasn't going to ramble on this author note since I tend to write a lot (thanks to the few people who do read them!) Might seem annoying to you, but I like the feeling of being able to have a convo with the readers so it's not just strictly posting for the sake of the story. I dunno, that's just me lol. **

**Thanks for reading and see you Friday!**

**-MM**


	34. The Beginning of the End

**Chapter Thirty Three: The Beginning of the End**

Clad in a simple black cloak and a straw hat, two figures meandered their way past all of Konoha's security measures and slipped into the village undetected. The villagers tossed them strange looks as they proceeded through the Konoha market, but all of those were ignored in favor of seeking out for two familiar faces.

Upon seeing other familiar faces that they didn't want to see, the two men slipped inside a teahouse, taking a seat on one of the wooden benches. They didn't order anything and the employees were too scared to approach the table. They were left unbothered.

Kurenai and Asuma stopped in front of the teahouse, changing the conversation to talk about Izumi's latest mission. One of the members tensed and that didn't escape Asuma or Kurenai's watchful eye. Pretending to turn away, they allowed the two men to leave.

When they turned back, the table was empty once more. The two moved to follow after the two men, intercepting them near the lake.

"State your purpose," Asuma demanded, already holding out his chakra blade. One of his hands reached up to tip up his straw hat, revealing his red eyes. Grasping the straw hat, Itachi Uchiha lifted it off of his head, bringing it down to his side before he released it. The straw hat bounced against the pavement before it fell flat.

The second man opted to yank off his straw hat, tossing it into the water. Shisui Uchiha. His eyes were still black, but that could quickly change in an instant.

"Kurenai san. Asuma san," Itachi greeted quietly. "Please do not interfere with our business and allow us to proceed through the village; otherwise, we will have no choice but to take you down."

"And what is that business?" Asuma asked again.

"We are looking for something. Or rather, someone," Itachi answered. "We do not wish to engage in a battle, but if you don't stop molding your chakra, Kurenai san, we will be forced to."

Said woman immediately stopped her genjutsu, shocked that Itachi had seen right through her. Both of them were at a loss as to what to do. They couldn't just let two traitors wander freely around in the village, but at the same time, both of them would have a hard time taking on one Uchiha, much less two of them.

Of all of the times for Izumi and Gai to not be with them…

"We cannot allow you to do that," Asuma stated evenly. Kurenai had many years of experience in reading Asuma's body language to know that he didn't feel as courageous as he sounded. Truth to be told, Kurenai didn't either.

How could she beat them when Itachi saw right through her genjutsu before she even casted it? Not to mention, they were both former Konoha shinobis and had an idea of Asuma's fighting style.

Before either of them could make up their minds, Itachi caught them in a genjutsu, paralyzing both jonins. By the time Kurenai had broken out of the genjutsu, both Uchihas were nowhere to be seen. After breaking Asuma out of the genjutsu, the two of them headed towards the Hokage Tower to report the incident.

Without the cover of their straw hats, the two Uchiha cousins opted to jump across the rooftops towards Kakashi's apartment. Any Anbu that they ran into were quickly dealt with, with a simple genjutsu. By the time anyone recovered, they were long gone, making everyone who encountered them wonder if it had been real. It felt like a distant memory.

The person they were looking for was conveniently home.

The moment they teleported into the apartment, Rin was on her feet, two senbons directed their way. They dodged, allowing the senbon pierce into the curtains behind them.

"Why are you here?" Rin demanded, hands already forming to put up a sound genjutsu. Shisui aided her by layering genjutsu in the surrounding area.

"We have urgent news. Is Kakashi here?"

"No, Team Seven has already been called away to assist Suna. Does this have something to do with the Kazekage's kidnapping?"

"Yes," Itachi confirmed. "The Akatsuki is making their first move. Sasori and Deidara have already retrieved the one tailed beast. Currently, all of the Akatsuki have gathered to extract the beast out of the Kazekage. The process will take three days."

"And you came to warn me?"

"Our real bodies are currently located near Konoha," Shisui explained. "You will be able to travel faster to Suna than our clones. Remember the scroll we gave you back then? In the last few years we were able to gather more information about each members' abilities. Here."

Rin accepted the scroll.

"Kakuzu and Hidan will be assigned to capture the two tails next," Itachi continued. "When you confront them, you will need to be careful. They are known to be the Immortal duo because Kakuzu is incredibly difficult to kill and Hidan cannot be killed."

"And who will be coming after the three tails?"

"Pein hasn't given orders for that, but the Akatsuki knows that you are the host for the Sanbi. Be careful. We'll contact you again once we know more."

"I see."

Their clones poofed out of existence as Rin unravelled the scroll. Skipping over the other members for now, Rin went straight to the ones called Deidara and Sasori.

Deidara, former Iwa nin. Forms explosives out of clay. Clay can be molded into any shape and size. Susceptible to genjutsu. Believe that the clay is weak against lightning, but theory not confirmed.

Sasori, former Sand nin. Real body hidden inside of puppet. Utilizes poison. Further abilities are unknown.

Swiping her backpack off of the floor, Rin darted out of the door, running to intercept Team Gai, who she knew were being sent out to provide backup for Team Kakashi.

If she was correct, today was the third day since the Kazekage was taken, which meant they had a couple of hours left to save the Kazekage. It wasn't the first time nor would it be the last that Rin wished she had a summon like Kakashi's ninken or the Uchiha cousins' crows who were able to deliver messages. Gnawing at her bottom teeth, Rin slipped past the two chunins on post and darted into the forest.

Three hours at top speed running, Rin could finally pinpoint Team Gai's chakra signatures. Team Kakashi's chakra signature was a bit fainter, too far away for a non sensor to pick up. Forming the signs for a clone, a carbon copy of herself appeared right next to her. Placing a hand on the back of her clone's shoulder, Rin teleported her clone to Kakashi while her real body raced to catch up with Team Gai.

The appearance of a newcomer shocked all three chunins of Team Kakashi, especially Sakura who hadn't been able to sense her presence. As a tribute to all of her years on the field, Chiyo didn't even flinch, but if one looked closely, she had drawn a kunai hidden in her sleeve. Kakashi was the only one who remained at ease.

"Yo. What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked without even turning to face Clone Rin. Clone Rin easily kept up with Team Kakashi as they continued to leapt through the trees.

"I have important intel on the Akatsuki members." That had gotten everyone's attention as they listened intently to her explanation of Deidara's skills, then Sasori's.

"Sasori, huh?" Chiyo murmured under her breath. Sakura didn't miss her statement.

"You know him?"

Chiyo nodded solemnly. "My grandson."

"And where is your real body, Rin? Don't tell me you are still in Konoha?" Kakashi inquired, tipping his head slightly to the side.

"Catching up with Team Gai," Rin answered. "Up ahead in the clearing, three o'clock direction. One chakra signature. It's Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke visibly stiffened at the mention of Itachi's name. Naruto shouted at him to snap out of it, dragging him along by the hand. In less than two minutes, they were intercepted by Itachi. All members hopped down from the tree into the clearing where Itachi had been waiting for them.

"It's not his real body," Rin commented. "Kakashi and I can take him, the rest of you should hurry to the cave."

"What, no!" Sasuke protested. "He's my brother. I will fight him as a Sharingan user against a Sharingan user."

"Sasuke's right!" Naruto interjected. "We aren't going to leave our comrades behind. Besides, you'll need backup, Kakashi sensei. Rin sensei is just a clone."

"If my calculations are correct," Rin began gravely. "You have approximately forty five minutes before the Akatsuki finishes the extraction process and Gaara dies. If you stay and fight, then you won't be able to save him, Naruto."

"Then at least I can stay," Sasuke insisted.

"No." This time it was Kakashi who spoke. "Deidara is supposedly weak against lightning nature and besides me, you are the only one who can use lightning jutsu. You need to go with the rest of them."

"I-"

"Futile discussion," Itachi cut in. "None of you will get past me."

As he finished speaking, the entire area was doused in genjutsu. Sakura was the first to break out of the genjutsu, followed by Kakashi. The two of them went to work to dispel the genjutsu from their comrades, but Itachi had taken that momentarily distraction to strike at Naruto's frozen body. Clone Rin jumped in the way, taking the kunai for Naruto, kicking at Itachi to force him backwards.

She disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Itachi followed up with a fireball jutsu. Kakashi countered with a water wall, exploding the area into a slew of evaporation mist. His hands moved to form the sequence for the Silent Mist technique that he had copied from Zabuza.

The mist thickened around them as Kakashi regrouped with the rest of his team, motioning them to get out of there. Naruto looked hesitant, but eventually nodded, his blue eyes expressing pleading to his sensei to stay safe.

They left. Itachi sensed their presence and moved to go after them, but Clone Kakashi intercepted him, locking him into a hand to hand combat while the real Kakashi slid underground to plant explosives around Itachi's feet.

Itachi caught Clone Kakashi into a genjutsu. In the landscape, he watched the paper thin version of Kakashi flail around as he began to burn to ashes, starting from his feet. Eyes narrowing at the realization, Itachi cancelled the genjutsu. The Kakashi in his hand poofed out of existence.

Kakashi broke through the earth, with a lightning charged kunai ready to slice off Itachi's head. Itachi leapt backwards, foot touching the land mine. Kakashi teleported to safety as the explosions triggered one by one.

A black feather fluttered down to the ground. Jerking himself out of the genjutsu, Kakashi whirled around just in time to block Itachi's kunai. His free hand reached to mark the sleeve of Itachi's Akatsuki cloak.

"You were always the weakest in genjutsu among the four of us," Itachi murmured. "But I suppose you have gotten better over the years."

Then he disappeared into a flutter of crows that dived to poke Kakashi with its beaks. Not the type to fall for the same trick again, Kakashi broke through both layers of the genjutsu. Unsheathing the sword on his back, Kakashi channelled lightning chakra through it before he teleported, materializing right in front of Itachi's face.

The sword pierced through Itachi's abdomen, slicing through Itachi's palms in his attempt to block the sword. The Sharingan faded from his eyes, allowing them to revert back to its black color. Moments later, his body disintegrated into a pile of ash, leaving a dead body on top. Pressing two fingers to his neck, Kakashi confirmed the man's death.

Tucking his sword back onto his back, Kakashi tossed one last look at the dead man before taking off in the direction of the Akatsuki's hideout.

As Rin sent her clone to inform Kakashi, she finally caught up with Team Gai and Pakkun. Pakkun didn't look marginally surprised at her arrival, he probably smelled her a while back, but the rest of Team Gai wore varying degrees of surprise on their faces. Mostly Gai, before he pointed an accusing finger at her, claiming that Kakashi sent her to hinder their progress to the caves so that his team could get there first.

Rin sighed. "This isn't a contest, Gai. I have important information that I need to share."

After she finished informing them of everything that she knew of the Akatsuki members, Gai declared that they would travel faster to ensure that the Kazekage didn't die. Lee followed up his enthusiasm, proposing a race to the caves. Tenten and Neji exchanged weary looks before taking off after their two overly enthusiastic comrades. Rin followed.

Two chakra signatures. One heading for Team Kakashi and the other? Heading straight for them.

Tossing one of her senbons to the rock ahead, Rin flashed in front of Team Gai and was the first to engage Shisui by the time that Team Gai had reached the clearing.

"Go!" Rin shouted. "I'll take care of him."

"But-"

"Gai, your team is no match against his genjutsu," Rin stated sternly as she ducked to avoid a kick to the head. Her forearm raised upward to block his next hit as her free hand swung, slashing at his torso with her chakra scalpel. Shisui teleported away to safety, landing on top of one of the rocks.

Rin vaguely registered Team Gai's chakra leaving the area before she put her full focus back into the fight, where Shisui was currently dousing the entire area with genjutsu. She dispelled it, countering it with one of her own.

From there, it was a full on genjutsu battle. To anyone who was watching the battle, it seemed like the two of them were just standing there, doing nothing, when in reality they were trying to outwit the other.

Her genjutsus skills weren't to be trifled with, but to catch Shisui, the one who had taught her genjutsu, was an incredibly difficult feat. Rin could only be grateful that she had been able to detect all of his genjutsus thus far. One of his signature genjutsus, a fear inducing one, had almost gotten her, but a bite to her bottom lip had taken care of that.

No, at this rate she would never win if the genjutsu battle continued to drag out any longer.

In terms of speed, she wouldn't have an upper hand either as Shisui wasn't known to be Shisui of the Body Flicker without a reason. To this day, Rin didn't exactly have a counter for his jutsu either.

Then it could only be her ice style jutsus, yet it would be too easy for Shisui to counter as his third change in nature was lightning…

Mind made up, her hands moved together to perform a jutsu when her body froze. Her eyes glazed over as she was pulled head first into a blanket of darkness. After using every trick in the book to break out of the genjutsu, Rin concluded that this was something akin to Itachi's Tsukuyomi. Unescapable.

But that didn't mean...her hands finished the last seal in the sequence as the world around her changed and she fell under.

_Twelve year old Reo Hatake scowled as his mother fussed over him, spinning him around to make sure that he had everything. He had just put on his sandals and was ready to slip out of the house undetected when his mother stepped into view. _

_His father once told him it was a terrible idea to cross his mother so he allowed his mother to fuss over him. _

"_Weapons pouch?" _

"_Full," Reo deadpanned. "Dad already checked it over last night. I have enough weapons to fight a war, Mom." _

"_What about your med kit?" _

"_I sealed it into this scroll. Besides, you already taught me a bit of medical ninjutsu. I'll be fine. At this rate, if I don't get going, I'll be late to meet with my team. You don't want me to follow Dad's bad habits do you?" _

_His mother sighed. "I suppose you're right. Be careful, alright." _

_Reo tried not to scowl too much as his mother ruffled his silver hair, messing it up. Forcing a fake smile, Reo promised his mother that he would be alright before darting out of the door. On the way to meeting his team, his hands were buried in his hair, trying to fix it before he met up with his team. Annoyance was etched across his face...why did his mother not understand that his hair didn't naturally stick up like Dad's did? And that he actually had to spend time combing his hair in the mornings. _

_Regardless, Reo was not about to be caught looking like he just rolled out of bed. Not in front of Mirai. _

_Back at the Hatake compound, Rin smiled softly after her son, chuckling lightly to herself at his annoyed expression. Perhaps she came across as overly annoying to Reo, but neither she nor Kakashi had any parents. The only motherly figure she had in her life was Kushina and to call her overbearing would be an understatement. _

_But Rin wouldn't want to have it any other way. _

_Rin forced herself to go back to the kitchen to prepare lunch as she heard Himari's laughter down the hall. She smiled softly to herself. _

_At least one of her kids wasn't eager to leave the house yet. Himari seemed content to take her time at the Academy, progressing at a normal speed while Reo had wanted to graduate as quickly as possible. Both Kakashi and her had rejected the idea, wanting to allow him a normal childhood. _

_But like father, like son, Rin supposed. His ambition to graduate quickly was just like his father, who still held the record for earliest graduation and earliest promotion to chunin. _

_Himari bounded into view, with all eight of Kakashi's ninken following her. Pakkun was sitting on top of her daughter's head, placing his paws in front of her brown eyes as he indulged her in a game of Peek A Boo. _

_Pakkun was getting soft in his old age. Or maybe he just had a spot for Himari as he often told Kakashi and practically everyone else that he wasn't to be treated like a regular dog. Yet he allowed Himari to do all of the things he didn't allow others: to pet him, coddle him, carry him around, touch his paws, call him cute, among other things. _

_Gently setting Pakkun down on Bull's head, Himari bounded over, tugging on her pants. _

"_Mama, where did nii san go?" _

"_He's on a mission. He might be gone for a couple of days." _

"_A really scary mission?" _

"_Well no, but it is a bit harder than the missions he has taken before so it will take him longer this time. Don't worry, your nii san is really strong, so he'll be alright." _

"_I know he's strong," Himari insisted. "It's just...well he promised that he would help me train today." _

_Upon seeing Himari's sad expression, Rin couldn't help but to comfort the girl like she had done many times before. It was always because either Reo or Kakashi had forgotten their promises to her, having gotten caught up in their work. That wasn't really an excuse, but Rin understood that they weren't doing it on purpose. _

_Himari was too young to understand these kinds of things. _

"_Listen, I can train with you in a bit. After all, I'm a lot stronger than your nii san so I can show you even cooler tricks than he can." _

_Himari didn't look satisfied. "Yeah but-" _

_Rin knew what she wanted to say. She didn't want to train with Reo for the sake of training, but did so in order to spend more time with her brother. After all, doing anything other than training to Reo seemed like a waste of time. _

_Like father, like son. _

_At least Reo wasn't a stickler for rules like Kakashi had been at his age. At least Reo somewhat got along with his teammates. At least Reo still understood the importance of family and how lucky he was to have one. _

"_How about we go visit your Papa later? I know you miss him." His ninken whined in agreement as they flopped onto the floor, forming a circle around Himari. Even his summons felt neglected...imagine being his daughter…_

_If she had known how much work went into planning for the upcoming chunin exams, Rin might have told Kakashi to pawn off his responsibilities to Naruto, who was eager to learn how to be Hokage. It was unfortunate that Naruto had recently taken on his own genin team and was too busy training them for the upcoming chunin exams to help organize said event. _

_Himari reluctantly accepted Rin's proposal. Akino was sent to inform Kakashi that he better clear his schedule in the afternoon. Or else. _

_When Kakashi came home that night, long after Himari fell asleep, Rin couldn't help but spill her concerns. _

"_She misses you and Reo," Rin began. "Do you want me to take over your Hokage duties so you can spend more time with her? I think she's getting tired of it just being me." _

"_Maa, so you can lecture me about pawning off my responsibilities onto other people?" Kakashi teased. "But yes, I would like that. After the chunin exams though because I have a list of things that I need you to do for me…" _

_Rin thought she had served her time as the Hokage's right hand man, after having spent more than half of her life serving the Yondaime, then during the Sandaime's second term, and then being worked to exhaustion under the Godaime. But no, she couldn't escape, not from the Rokudaime… _

_While Kakashi disappeared down the hall to take a shower, Rin passed by Himari's room to check up on her. The sleeping girl was clutching a stuffed dog toy tightly to her chest as she rolled over in her sleep. Kakashi's eight dogs slept on the floor all around her bed. Shiba stirred lightly at Himari's movement, but drifted back to sleep upon seeing that there was no danger. _

_Rin turned to pad quietly down the hall to her bedroom as a figure snuck up behind her, with a kunai in hand…_

And Rin whirled around to deflect the kunai with her senbon, kicking the unknown figure with enough force to knock him back several meters. Several of his ribs snapped in half upon impact. That had been enough for Shisui to undo the genjutsu, body hunched over as he clutched his abdomen. The Uchiha was breathing heavily as his Sharingan faded from his eyes.

"How?" he questioned.

"That genjutsu is one that puts the victim in their dream landscape, correct?" Rin began, twirling a kunai lazily in her hand. "Then when the victim is complacent in their own dreams, you come to kill them. However, you were under my genjutsu before yours even started. I made you think that I was unaware, that I was too complacent in living in my dream to notice you."

Adding a bit of wind nature chakra to the kunai, Rin flung it at Shisui, who didn't have enough strength to dodge. The kunai nicked the side of his face, drawing blood.

Shisui smirked. "You've come a long way since being that girl who wanted to become a jonin. Now…"

"I'll lay you to rest." Teleporting right in front of Shisui, Rin jammed a kunai into his stomach and watched him burst into a flutter of ashes. A Suna shinobi crumpled on top of the ashes.

Sighing, Rin took off towards the caves, hoping that they made it in time to save Gaara.

* * *

"Both of our decoys have been taken down," Zetsu reported. "And Konoha shinobis are outside the cave as we speak."

Pein tsked. "Five minutes and we will be finished. The barrier should stall them long enough. Sasori, Deidara, you will handle them when we are finished here."

"The Sanbi and Kyuubi are among the group," Zetsu revealed. "Should we capture them while they are at our doorstep?"

"Do what you can," Pein ordered. "But I do believe the Konoha shinobis are no pushover. Itachi, Shisui, perhaps you can shed some light on their capabilities."

"The Kyuubi boy trained under Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin," Itachi began. "And Kakashi Hatake, one of our former teammates. If that is the case, then it will not be easy to take him down, especially with his teammates. He is weak against genjutsu, but his teammates are not."

"And the girl?" Deidara prompted.

"Based on past encounters, Deidara," Shisui said. "You won't be able to take her down. I was the one who personally taught her genjutsu and since you are so easily fooled by genjutsu…"

"Oi. I won't fall for the same tricks twice," Deidara insisted.

"If you say so," Shisui responded. "Her genjutsu has improved immensely to the point where she is capable of outwitting my decoy."

"Tsk wait and see. I'll take down both of the jinchuurikis and prove you wrong."

Right as they finished sealing away the one tails, the boulder of the cave broke into pieces of rubble. The phantom images of the other members faded out of view. Deidara and Sasori leapt down to meet the Konoha shinobis face to face.

"Give back Gaara!"

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Himari may or may not have been inspired by Himawari from Boruto hahaha. :) Somehow I ended up liking her more than the main character lol. But in all seriousness, I had this image pop into my head. Since Kakashi doesn't have kids in canon, I always thought if Kakashi did have kids, his dogs would be super protective over them. Welp, too bad it was just a genjutsu. **

**I tend to write long A/Ns so going to keep this one short today. Next chapter is called Art is an Explosion. **

**As always, thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	35. Art is an Explosion

**Chapter Thirty Four: Art is an Explosion**

There weren't many people in her life that could catch her off guard. There were even less people who could catch off guard multiple times. And then there was one, who managed to surprise her every time, like that was his life goal.

Kakashi Hatake.

First, it had been his lame ass confession that she had been waiting for the better part of her life, yet she found herself not wanting it any other way.

Second, it was the way that he warmed up to his three brats and she found it surprising that such an emotionally stunted man was actually decent with kids.

Third, it was his compulsive need to see with his own eyes that she was safe every time they were separated from battle. It was cute and annoying at the same time, like he didn't trust her to be fine by herself, but on the other hand, it was because he cared.

This time was no exception. Kakashi had found her barely two minutes after she finished her fight with Shisui. She had expected him to go after his team, especially with the opponents that they were facing, but he came to her first.

"You were supposed to go after your brats," Rin whispered as Kakashi fell into step beside her as they took off through the trees.

"They have Team Gai as backup. It's only logical that I come find you first since you were fighting alone. Who did you have to fight?"

Rin was ninety percent certain that Kakashi already had his guesses, and his guesses were rarely wrong, but she answered anyway. "Shisui."

"I see. Did they pay you a visit?"

"In Konoha," Rin replied. "They gave me an updated version of all of the members' abilities. And to warn me that the plan has started. They know I have the Sanbi."

"We won't let them get you."

"That's not what I'm worried about. It's just...well I can't feel Gaara's chakra anymore and I'm scared of how Naruto will react."

In truth, that wasn't what Rin was concerned about, not when she knew that Naruto had already seen Gaara's dead body. Not when she could feel Sakura and Chiyo's chakra facing off against Sasori while Sasuke and Naruto went after Deidara. Each member of Team Gai seemed to be fighting against an unfamiliar chakra source. They were fine. They were holding their own.

Just...Rin hated that Shisui's Dream Landscape gave her hope that she didn't want to have. A dream was called a dream after all. It wasn't real. It wouldn't ever be real.

"We should get going."

At the caves, Kakashi and Rin split. Kakashi followed after Naruto and Sasuke, while Rin slipped into the caves just in time to free Chiyo from underneath the rubble and pull her out of harm's way. The Third Kazekage puppet charged towards Sakura, weaving in and out of its own iron spikes. Its broken blade was raised, ready to slash down at the pink haired girl when Sakura stood up, smashing the puppet into pieces. As the iron sand softened and fell, Sakura leapt back to join Chiyo and Rin, the latter having already fixed up Chiyo's arm.

"Sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Report the enemy's abilities." Sakura did, recounting the two puppets she had destroyed thus far and the abilities that each possessed. To make a living human being turn into a puppet and keep its abilities...how interesting.

"I have one vial of antidote left," Sakura said, holding out the injection in the palm of her hand. Chiyo took it, tucking it in her robes as she pushed herself to her feet.

"Two or three, won't make a difference," Sasori said. "I will still kill you and add you to my puppet collection."

His real body...a puppet.

Sasori moved his head to both sides, cracking his neck before he held out two arms. The arms twisted at an unnatural angle. The two faucets aimed straight at them. A streak of fire came from it, the scorching heat making the air around them suffocating. While Chiyo and Sakura rolled from rock to rock, hopping away as the rock cracked under the heat, Rin performed the hand seals to a water jutsu.

It wasn't enough to counter such a strong fire jutsu, but the evaporation mist was all that Rin needed to obscure his vision. At this point, Sasori began to aim wildly. Sakura slammed her palms to the ground, forming a mud wall. The two of them took cover behind that as Rin crouched behind a rock a good ways away from them, wondering how she could get close enough to take him out.

Her only real long range attack in her arsenal was genjutsu, but that wasn't an option since Sasori was a puppet.

Sasori ran out of fire, burning through his next scroll to shoot high pressured water. The water cut through the rocks and Rin found herself rolling out of the way to narrowly avoid being whacked with the stream of water.

When the stream of water stopped, Rin tossed five senbons in his direction. Craning his neck at an awkward angle, Sasori's brown eyes bore into hers as he easily dodged them all. But that was all Rin needed to teleport right in front of him, knocking his metal coil off course with a kick. Her chakra scalpel sliced his head off, sending it flying across the cave.

Channelling chakra to her fist, Rin smashed the rest of his body into pieces. Not her favorite form of combat style - that was more of Sakura's speciality - but it did the job. Close combat...a puppet user's demise.

She rejoined Sakura and Chiyo, ready to make their way out of the cave and rejoin the rest of their team when a noise stopped them in their tracks. Turning her head around, Rin's eyes widened as the random pieces of puppets formed back together. The "heart" jammed itself right in the hole of the body, bringing Sasori back to life.

"We need to destroy the heart," Rin whispered to her two companions. Sasori raised a hand, opening one of the panels in his chest. Shadows after shadows escaped from there, attached to chakra strings.

Besides her, Chiyo unraveled a scroll, performing a few hand signs. Ten puppets dressed in white emerged, each of them attached to one of Chiyo's fingers.

Ten...versus a hundred.

"You may have used that technique to bring down a castle," Sasori commented lightly. "But my technique can bring down an entire nation. Die!"

All ten puppets darted into the fray to meet the onslaught of the hundred puppets. Sakura and Rin both jumped in, destroying puppets left and right. Sakura with her monstrous strength broke through the puppets at a rapid rate. Rin with her chakra scalpels simply sliced through the puppets.

Ducking as one of the blades swung at her, Rin's hands formed the seals for a wind jutsu. A large blast of wind knocked back the army of puppets that came at her, clearing the way to Sasori's real body. Launching three senbons in his direction, Sasori dodged but more puppets came to block her way. Sakura appeared beside her, bulldozing her way through the puppets with Chiyo's puppets covering her.

Nodding to Sakura, Rin hopped on top of a puppet, twisting its head off with her legs before continuing forward. Flashing in front of Sasori once more, her arm raised to jam a kunai into his heart when the corner of her eye spotted a puppet coming at her from the side, sword ready to pierce her stomach. Leaping backwards, Rin removed herself from the range of the attack as five more puppets closed in on her.

Elbowing one of the puppets into pieces, Rin grabbed its head and tossed it at another puppet, momentarily stunning it from moving. She jumped as a group of blades attempted to stab her, landing on the metal. Darting forward, she hacked off the head of another puppet. Diving to the ground, Rin raced towards Sasori once more with the puppets on her tail.

Chiyo's puppet sliced through them.

At the same time that Rin was heading for Sasori, Sakura was too. Two of Chiyo's puppets snuck up on Sasori, pinning him against the wall. Sakura tossed a kunai at Sasori's heart. Breaking free of the hold of Chiyo's puppets, Sasori moved to dodge it and would have dodged it if Rin didn't teleport to her fallen senbons, driving the kunai into his heart with the sole of her foot while her hand formed a chakra scalpel to cut off all of his chakra strings.

All around her, the rest of his puppet army fell as a dribble of blood escaped from his lips.

"Che. To think that I was beaten by a bunch of girls…"

By the time she saw the miniscule movement of his finger, it was too late. The sword of one of the fallen puppets had pierced straight through Sakura's back. Another finger and another puppet moved behind Chiyo. Her fingers moved, yanking one of her puppets back to deflect it, but she was too slow. The sword nicked her arm.

Nothing life threatening, but she was poisoned. Both of them were and there was only one antidote.

Fueled by anger, Rin drove another kunai into his heart as a shadow covered her. Teleporting away to safety, Rin watched as the puppet swung its blade at where she had been moments before, only to lob off Sasori's head. The puppet fell to the ground, crashing into pieces.

It was done. He was dead. But her two comrades would soon be too, if they weren't given medical treatment.

Running to Sakura's side, Rin knelt down next to her to see that her student had started medical treatment, but her control was waning as the poison took hold. With the last dredges of strength Chiyo crawled to their side as Rin began to give Sakura medical treatment, slowly yanking out the blade.

Sakura groaned in pain, her legs shifting to curl up closer to her body as she laid on her side.

"The antidote. Give it to her," Chiyo instructed, holding out the vial in the palm of her hand.

Rin wasn't about to argue; instead, it was Sakura who protested weakly. Snatching the vial from Chiyo's hands, Rin interjected it into Sakura's leg, letting the liquid seep into her system. Pulling out the vial and tossing it to the side, Rin pressed two hands against Sakura's side. Activating her strength of hundred seals, she allowed the black marks to criss cross all over the younger girl's torso, pouring an immense amount of healing chakra to close up the artery before Sakura inevitably bled out.

Once she was sure that Sakura wasn't going to die, the black marks receded and Rin continued to close up the flesh wound with one hand, while her other reached to heal the wound on Chiyo's arm.

"We still have time to go back to the village to get you treated," Rin told her. "Or I can forcibly extract the poison from your body here."

"No," Chiyo protested weakly. "Take me to Gaara. There's something that I must do…"

Understanding dawned on her as Rin hauled both of them to their feet. "It might be a bit disorientating, so please bear with me."

With one hand wrapped around both of them, Rin teleported all three of them to Kakashi's side.

* * *

Catching up with Naruto and Sasuke wasn't hard, not when they didn't make it very far. From his vantage point, Kakashi watched as Deidara toyed with his students, sending clay explosions down at them. From above, Deidara seemed to lazily fly around in circles with the Kazekage's body in the mouth of his clay bird. Sasuke negated its explosive nature with Chidori needles while Naruto continued to run after Deidara.

Following his two students, Kakashi managed to catch up with Naruto and slapped a seal to his forehead, pushing back the Kyuubi's chakra that had begun to seep out. Naruto blinked for a moment, before recognition flickered in his eyes.

"Sensei."

"Don't let your anger get the best of you," Kakashi instructed. "We're going to get Gaara back, but in order to do that, I need your mind to be clear. Sasuke, report on the enemy's abilities."

Sasuke did, revealing everything that Rin had already told them, but confirmed that the clay was weak against lightning nature. So far, Deidara was doing nothing but toying with them, flying just out of their reach, but not close enough for them to utilize their deadliest attacks. A combination of wind and fire jutsu wasn't enough, as Deidara simply flew away from their attack.

But Kakashi had a plan.

"Sasuke, activate your Sharingan and come here." Sasuke did as he was told. Kakashi placed a hand on his back, marking him.

"I'm going to send you to him," Kakashi told him. "Place him in a genjutsu then attack. Naruto, you go get Gaara once he's down, alright?"

Both of his students nodded.

Pulling out two of his special kunais, Kakashi channelled lightning natured chakra through it. He flung the first one. As predicted, Deidara moved his clay bird aside to let the kunai sail besides him. Pushing chakra into Sasuke, Kakashi teleported him to that kunai just as it sailed above Deidara's head.

Sasuke flashed behind Deidara, Sharingan already spinning. The moment that Deidara turned around, he was caught in Sasuke's genjutsu. From below, Kakashi flung the second kunai, embedding it in the underside of the clay bird.

Paralyzed, Sasuke moved to ram his sword through Deidara, but Deidara broke free of the genjutsu, shifting just in time for Sasuke to miss his heart. Instead, the lightning charged sword pierced through his shoulder.

"Tsk. Did you think I was going to fall for the Sharingan again? Like I said, I don't fall for the same tricks twice!"

Kakashi teleported himself to the second kunai, Chidori in the palm of his hand as he jammed it through the clay bird. Sasuke was quick to leap in the air, having seen Kakashi's movement with his Sharingan, but Deidara wasn't so fortunate. He had barely enough time to shift his feet, when the Chidori rammed into his arm, tearing it off completely. All three of them toppled towards land as the clay bird fell apart into mush.

Below, Naruto was already racing to catch Gaara's fallen body.

Deidara stumbled backwards, his remaining arm clutching his bleeding stump as Sasuke's sword was still stuck in his shoulder. Unsheathing his own sword, Kakashi wordlessly handed it to Sasuke, who took it with his left hand.

Deidara reached into his pocket, the mouth on his hand chewing the last bit of clay that he had left. Sasuke's Sharingan caught the movement. A Chidori stream severed his hand from the rest of his body. The hand fell onto the grass; the mouth still half opened. Sasuke stabbed through the hand, negating all of its explosive properties.

As Kakashi inched forward, Deidara took two steps back, buying time as he contemplated his next move. He barely had three seconds to do that when Gai entered the fray, with a loud dynamic entry. The forceful kick to Deidara's head had sent him flying back several meters, but he managed to twist his body into mid air so that he could land on his feet.

Feinting to the left, Deidara managed to avoid another kick to the face by Lee. Rounding the tree, Deidara avoided Tenten's attack, allowing her shurikens to bury itself into the trunk of the tree. On the other side, Deidara kicked at Gai, parrying his own kick before he hopped to the next tree. Propelling himself off of the tree, Deidara landed on the grass as Neji's attack hit the trunk of the tree instead.

Running across the clearing, Deidara ducked and rolled before getting back onto his feet. Tenten's weapons whizzed over his head, almost hitting Naruto instead if Kakashi hadn't gotten in the way, deflecting all of it. Right as Deidara made it to the pile of mush, Sasuke intercepted him, swinging his sword on him.

Jerking his body to the left, Deidara landed on the pile of mush, his mouth tearing a piece of it away and he began to chew. The effect was instantaneous; his body began to bulge, tearing through the Akatsuki cloak. Upon Neji's shout, all members of Team Gai and Team Kakashi began to retreat, while Kakashi stayed still on the branch, focusing his Kamui on Deidara's body.

Right as he exploded, Kakashi felt a hand on his back, healing chakra and raw chakra surging through his body as he Kamui'ed the explosion into the other dimension, saving all of his comrades' backsides from being scorched. His Sharingan faded to his normal pattern. Kakashi yanked down his forehead protector to cover his eye as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Ah I still had enough chakra, you know."

"I was trying to prevent blindness," Rin retorted. "Unless you want to go blind…"

"Hai, hai." Rin's attention wasn't focused on Kakashi anymore; instead, her head jerked so sharply to the left that it startled Kakashi, Sakura, and Chiyo, who were the nearest.

"Neji, use your Byakugan. I still feel his chakra."

Neji did as he was told, the veins bulging from either side of his head. "Underground, in your one o'clock direction."

Kakashi hopped down from the tree, slipping underground with his earth jutsu. Like Neji said, Kakashi found a tattered Deidara working his way through the ground. His eyes widened as he saw Kakashi, but it didn't last long as a Chidori to the chest finished him. Dragging his body out with him, Kakashi popped back up to the surface, laying Deidara's bloody body at his feet.

"Sakura, seal his body away. We'll be taking him back to Konoha. Naruto, move aside and let Chiyo san save Gaara." The weeping blonde boy hesitantly moved aside to let Chiyo kneel down next to Gaara. Her hands glowed blue.

"I thought that he was dead, how-"

"Hush boy," Chiyo scolded. "Let me concentrate."

Naruto fell silent as the rest of the Konoha nins gathered around to silently pay their respects. It seemed that Naruto was the only one who was oblivious to what was going on. When Chiyo asked Naruto to lend her chakra, he did so readily, placing his hands over hers. The blue hue became even stronger.

Less than a minute later, Gaara's eyes snapped open as Chiyo's body fell limp. Sakura was by her side, pulling her body away from Gaara. Moving her hand over Chiyo's eyelids, Sakura closed them.

Everyone saw the smile that graced Chiyo's lips.

Naruto threw his arms around Gaara, muttering incoherent words while Gaara just stared blankly at Naruto, then at everyone else, before his jade eyes fell onto Chiyo's prone body. He shut his eyes for a moment of silence.

"Thank you for saving my life."

* * *

In the village of the Hidden Rain, Pein sat cross legged on one of the pipes as he listened to the sound of the rain pattering incessantly against the rooftop. He didn't move as he felt a chakra emerge from the ground beside him.

There were only two people in the world who could move like that. One was the masked man by the name of Madara Uchiha, but it had been over a decade since he last paid him a visit. The other was Zetsu, who had the ability to move underground and appear out of nowhere, which made him perfect to serve as Akatsuki's eyes and ears.

"Deidara and Sasori are dead," Black Zetsu reported. "The Konoha shinobis were able to kill them."

"I see. And what of their abilities?"

"The only two that we need to watch for are Itachi and Shisui's old teammates, the Copy ninja and the Sanbi. It appears that they have mastered the Yondaime's technique for teleportation; it will not be easy to fight them, much less capture the Sanbi."

"Can Itachi and Shisui beat them?"

"That, I do not know. They were easily able to beat the decoys, but the decoys are not at their full strength. The last that the Sanbi fought against Itachi was many years ago, when the Uchiha first defected from Konoha. Their skills have changed since then…"

"Hmm. Genjutsu is not easy to counter," Pein mused, his mind running through all of the members in the Akatsuki. Besides the Uchiha duo, no one else in Akatsuki was really equipped to deal with genjutsu. Sending the immortal duo might catch them off guard at first, but if they had backup - and Konoha always seemed to have backup - then it wouldn't be an easy win either. As far as he knew about Kisame's abilities, he was a ninjutsu type.

It had to be him. It could only be him.

"Tell Kakuzu and Hidan to retrieve the two tails," Pein ordered Zetsu. "When the time comes, we will launch an invasion to retrieve the Sanbi."

Zetsu sank back underground.

As Pein stood up to leave, the rain poured even harder.

* * *

**A/N: Hey again!**

**Honestly when I first wrote this arc, I forgot about Sasuke lol. Not defecting certainly changes a lot of things, including making canon shorter haha. I tried to incorporate a bit of Sasuke's fight against Deidara (from canon) into this but I can't see the fight lasting too long since there's so many Konoha nins. I tried to make Rin intervene a bit later so Sakura can still have some spotlight like in canon (this was one of my favorite moments for her). Sorry if the fight seems dull (and future fights with the Akatsuki). **

**When writing these fights, I realized how hard it is to counter the Hiraishin since most people won't be able to react in time so it feels like they're bound to win most fights. Maybe that's why they made Minato die so early in canon haha otherwise he would have been too OP. **

**Anyways, next chapter is fun! It's called Unmasked(or not) and it's my recreation of Team 7 trying to see underneath Kakashi's mask haha. A little bit of filler/transition and fluff before we start diving into the ending. Believe it or not, we're getting near the end. The last scene with Pein kind of alluded to that...haha. :) Let me know your predictions!**

**Thanks for reading. See you next time!**

**-MM**


	36. Unmasked

**Chapter Thirty Five: Unmasked (or not)**

Kakashi received a variety of responses from his students when he casually announced that he was cutting their training session short.

Annoyance from Sasuke because it had only been less than an hour into their training session. To be fair, if Kakashi had it his way, he wouldn't have shown up in the first place, but a small part of him still understood what being responsible means. And well, if the responsible side of him took over, then Kakashi would have been much earlier. Alas, he arrived three hours late like usual, leading to only forty five minutes of training before noon.

Fury from Naruto because Kakashi had just begun explaining the process to learning the Rasenshuriken and the boy had absolutely no patience. He could only imagine how Naruto would fare, if he was told that he might have to spend over a decade to figure out the jutsu, just like Kakashi had done. And it was still incomplete. Well, the fury wasn't really a result of the frustration although Kakashi liked to think it was, but rather that Kakashi had declared he was leaving after a brief explanation.

Sakura was the only one with a relatively normal reaction. Or at least, normal by Team Seven's standards.

"It's your anniversary, isn't it?" That had been enough to cut Naruto off mid-rant as the blonde leaned closer to hear Kakashi's response. Even the scowl on Sasuke's face disappeared and he looked remotely interested, even though he tried to not show it.

Kakashi saw right through him.

"Maa, how did you know?"

As far as Kakashi was aware, the date wasn't common knowledge. Or at least, it wasn't supposed to be. Not when everyone already thought that the two of them were dating, even long before they made it official, so when it became official, nothing really changed.

Rin must have mentioned it to Sakura, Kakashi concluded.

The real question was in what context.

"Hospital gossip," Sakura replied. Upon Kakashi's mortified look, or what Sakura presumed was her sensei's version of a mortified look, Sakura added, "You didn't know? Your relationship has been a hot topic ever since I began training at the hospital. There's even an exaggerated story about how you risked your career to save Rin sensei from being stripped of her medic status."

Had he? It all seemed so long ago and he had only done what he thought was right.

"I don't get what is so interesting to gossip about," Kakashi grumbled. "They don't know the truth anyways."

"Then what is the truth?" Sakura prodded, leaning closer to him.

"That," Kakashi said, jamming a finger against Sakura's forehead to push her out of his face. "Is none of your business."

"Ah! Maybe the whole thing is a ruse so that you have an excuse to leave training early," Naruto accused, leaping right in front of Kakashi. "You don't want to tell the story because it's not real. Give it up sensei and train us."

Kakashi shot Naruto a wry look. "You are all chunins now. I am confident that you should have the ability to train on your own. If not, I guess I'll have to take it up to Tsunade sama to have you demoted…"

"Anyways, keep training hard. I'll be here to check up on your progress tomorrow. And Sakura? Don't listen to the nonsense at the hospital." With that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke back to the safety of his own apartment. Rin was already in the kitchen, making lunch for the both of them.

"So, tell me about this hospital gossip."

Throwing her head back from the laughter, Rin eventually did, detailing all of the absurd theories that the hospital staff had come up over the years.

Something about how Kakashi always snuck out of the hospital as a form of protest if Rin wasn't the one treating him.

The debate of how long they have been dating was a popular discussion. Some guesses even dated back to the days of the Third Shinobi War, while others believed that their relationship was fake, simply a ploy to deter annoying suitors. It certainly sounded like something Kakashi would do; he knew firsthand exactly how annoying fangirls could be.

The nature of their relationship was another popular debate. Whether they were just strictly friends, actually dating, or perhaps even friends with benefits. There was also a rumor that flew around speculating that the two of them were secretly married.

Then there were crazy theories about how it was actually a threesome between him, Rin, and Izumi. Or sometimes Gai would be thrown into the mix.

Rin's favorite one had been the one that speculated Kakashi often entered the hospital due to chakra exhaustion simply as an excuse to see her, much to Kakashi's annoyance. It wasn't his fault that his younger self was prone to chakra exhaustion, especially with Obito's Sharingan.

"Do they not have anything better to do besides gossip?"

Rin shrugged. "Apparently not, but it's all your fault. A lot of them say a lot of nasty things about me because they have a crush on you."

Kakashi sighed. "Why does it feel like the Academy all over again?"

Her only response was laughter.

* * *

Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm, yanking him back towards them as the blonde boy attempted to follow Kakashi, even though he didn't have a clue as to where he went.

"Let it go, Naruto," Sakura told him. "Sensei is allowed to have a life outside of missions and training."

"I know," Naruto insisted. "But he was explaining a really cool jutsu to me and then he just leaves like that."

Sasuke scoffed. "Dobe. Kakashi wants you to figure it out on your own. No one is going to hold your hand through every step of the process."

"Oi teme, like you have done better. I haven't seen you creating any new jutsus."

"At least I didn't need anyone to hold my hand through the process of learning the Chidori. You must have been a pain in the ass to teach the Rasengan too."

Naturally, Naruto was going to respond; he wasn't the type to let those insults slide, but Sakura interjected, telling both of them to calm down. "Let's just get back to training, yeah?"

Sasuke complied to her suggestion, returning to running through his katas, but Naruto just stood there. Sakura had been on her way to do some endurance training when she noticed that Naruto didn't follow her.

"Naruto?" Sakura prompted.

"Ah enough of training!" Naruto exclaimed, a sly grin forming on his face. "I have a better idea."

Sakura was the one to entertain his declaration. "What?"

Sasuke stopped running through his katas, shifting himself so that he was positioned closer to his two teammates, but not close enough that it seemed like he was in the conversation.

"We can try to see Kakashi sensei unmasked," Naruto suggested.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We already tried that before, remember? Twice already and it failed both times. It's like there's some force that's working against us to make us not see his face. This time won't be any different."

"Aha!" Naruto shouted. "That's where you are wrong, Sakura chan. Kakashi sensei will be with Rin sensei, so his guard will definitely be down."

"No," Sakura protested. "We are not spying on Kakashi sensei on his anniversary. That's an invasion of their privacy!"

"Like Kakashi sensei doesn't pop into our apartments at random times to drag us out for training," Naruto argued. "Besides, don't tell me you aren't curious as to what he does outside of training? It seems like he doesn't have a life."

"It's called a private life for a reason, Naruto," Sakura chided. "Private meaning that we don't know about it. Spying on him just seems inappropriate."

"But it's not fair that Kakashi sensei has access to every detail about our life and after being his students for so many years, we know virtually nothing about him."

Sakura sighed, throwing her hands up in the air, the universal sign that she gave up arguing with Naruto. Instead, Sakura turned towards Sasuke, hoping that he would be the voice of reason here.

Except Sasuke wasn't. "Izumi told me that only Rin has ever seen Kakashi's face."

"What does that have to do with anything?" was Sakura's response, while Naruto latched on to Sasuke's statement, pointing out that their chances of seeing Kakashi sensei's face were increased.

"See Sakura chan. If Kakashi sensei is with Rin sensei and he's comfortable with not having his mask on, we can get a peek from afar. They won't even notice us!"

Sakura didn't even get the opportunity to inform him that they would definitely notice, Rin was an even better sensory ninja than herself for crying out loud, but Naruto was already dragging her and Sasuke in the direction of Kakashi's apartment.

Much to her surprise, Sasuke was willingly allowing Naruto to drag him along despite his verbal protests to not touch him.

* * *

For the tenth time in the last hour, Rin emitted a sigh as her hands moved to sift through the pages of the new trade agreement with Kumo. Across from her, Kakashi's eye flickered to her briefly, then to her paper, before back onto his own set of papers, featuring an updated peace treaty with Kiri.

"Remind me why we volunteered to act as Konoha's envoys again?"

"We didn't. Tsunade sama practically coerced us," Kakashi gently corrected, as his lone eye scanned through the contents of the treaty. "Something about it being her retribution since we didn't want to take Hokage, so it fell to her."

"Can Naruto grow up faster? Then we can pawn off the paperwork to him as a rite of passage to becoming Hokage."

"We'll be waiting for quite a while," Kakashi responded wryly. "He was angry at me because I ditched training. I much rather be training those brats than doing this."

"Why didn't you just cancel it yesterday?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, it slipped my mind."

Rin shook her head. "How typical. You wouldn't have happened to invite those brats of yours over, would you?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"Don't look, but they're on the adjacent rooftop. Probably spying on us through the window."

Meanwhile on the rooftop, Naruto was complaining about how boring Kakashi sensei was. Even at home, Kakashi sensei was just reading boring documents, while talking to Rin. Sakura constantly elbowed him as a warning to hush, while Sasuke attempted to read their lips to figure out the nature of the conversation. But he was too far away, and it was hard to read Kakashi's lips when it was obscured by his mask.

And Sasuke would be damned if he used his Sharingan on such a trivial matter.

"Did you figure it out, Sasuke kun?" Sakura questioned, slapping a hand over Naruto's mouth. For once, Naruto fell silent.

Sasuke shook his head.

"See Naruto," Sakura hissed. "Kakashi sensei had a good reason to leave training early. It's probably some mission reports that he forgot to submit. Now, let's go bac-"

Naruto pried her hand off of his mouth, pointing in the direction of the window. Sakura's green eyes followed his line of sight to Kakashi's kitchen window where Kakashi had just undid his forehead protector and was moving to shrug off his flak jacket. Rin had stood up, rounding the kitchen table to collect the scattered documents and placing it in a neat stack.

"What about it-"

"Hush," Naruto said.

Sakura's eyes widened as her brain registered the fact that Kakashi had just grabbed Rin by the waist, spinning her around and pressing her against the wall. Rin was smiling as her hands pressed against Kakashi's navy shirt, feeling the hard planes of his body, before trailing upwards to his shoulder. Her left hand snaked up to his neck, across his cheek. Two fingers hooked in the fabric of his mask, moving to tug it downward…

All three of their mouths fell open from the anticipation. This was their moment. There wouldn't be annoying classmates to get in the way this time. There wouldn't be a second mask under his first mask. There wouldn't be anything in their way of seeing Kakashi's face…

And right when Rin pulled down his mask, Kakashi spun the both of them so that the back of his head was facing the window. And then the two of them promptly disappeared out of sight.

Naruto almost fell off of the rooftop from the shock, if it wasn't for Sasuke who grabbed onto the collar of his jacket in time. Disappointment was written all over Sakura's face; even if she felt guilty about spying on her senseis, they had been so, so close to seeing Kakashi sensei's face.

Sasuke was just convinced that the divine intervention was still working against them.

Perched on two rooftops away, Kakashi chortled in amusement at his students' reactions to the crafty genjutsu that he had planted before he and Rin slipped out of the apartment.

"Maa, some things never change, does it?" Kakashi commented. "I thought they would have gotten over their curiosity when they became chunin but I guess not."

"Well your face is one of Konoha's most well kept secrets," Rin pointed out, teasingly. "That's not to mention that you have Naruto on your team; you know the kid doesn't give up."

Sakura felt like an utter idiot when it finally crossed her mind that the entire scene had been a genjutsu. She felt so stupid, so foolish to have been so enraptured in the mystery of Kakashi sensei's face that she failed to notice that it had been a damn trick all along.

When she finally revealed her findings to her teammates, Naruto, as expected, was sent into a fit of rage. What was expected was Naruto to propose that they needed to track down their sensei, so that they could extract their revenge. Sakura highly doubted that anything the three of them could do would even touch Kakashi sensei, but willingly followed Naruto around the village.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked disturbed. Most likely with the same train of thought as Sakura; how could he have been so stupid to not have seen through a basic genjutsu? Hardly a B ranked genjutsu, planted by someone who wasn't even a genjutsu specialist. It was those self deprecating thoughts that fueled Sasuke's determination even further; he'd be damned if he was caught in one of Kakashi's tricks again.

Too bad Kakashi had an entire book full of tricks; its sheer number more than enough to rival Naruto's amount. Being a genius had its perks, sometimes.

It wasn't long before Rin felt the familiar chakra signatures of Kakashi's three chunin students. It must have been Sakura's doing, Rin mused. That, and Kakashi deliberately didn't bother to suppress his chakra, almost like he was baiting his students to come find him.

The only indication that tipped Rin off that Kakashi knew his students were near was his slight body movement, angling himself so that his back faced his students. She shook her head in amusement before she went back to scouring through the documents.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was playing a game with his students in the form of casting various genjutsus, while Sasuke and Sakura saw straight through them immediately. He could only lament the fact that his students weren't fun anymore, not when they didn't fall for his same tricks again. Then again, they weren't the clueless genins they once were when they first met.

For the sake of maintaining a healthy level of chakra, Kakashi stopped with the genjutsu. Instead, he quickly swapped his real body with a clone - Rin definitely noticed but didn't comment - before he used shunshin to appear right behind his cute students, who were currently hiding in a bush a good ways away from him.

Sasuke was the first to react to his presence, spinning around with such a speed that he almost nicked Kakashi, if Kakashi hadn't anticipated Sasuke's reaction and made sure he was out of the reach of the dark haired boy.

Both Sakura and Naruto were five seconds slower to react and by then, were fully aware of his identity. They made no move to attack Kakashi; instead, they tucked their kunais back into their weapons pouch.

"Oi, mind explaining to me why you three are stalking me?"

All three of them had the deer caught in the headlights look. Not so subtly, Sakura and Sasuke turned towards Naruto for an answer.

Naruto gulped. "Ah, well you see, we are training? Working on our stealth, yeah!"

"And you thought you weren't going to be noticed by two Anbu operatives?"

"Yeah well who else?" Sakura attempted to salvage, with a nervous chuckle. "I mean it's either the people in our age group or you and tailing you would give us more of a challenge."

Kakashi amended his previous statement. They were still his cute students, just a bit older, but still the same foolishness. That, and they had somehow picked up his habit for telling terrible lies.

"Yeah right," Kakashi scoffed. "What is your real purpose? To come beg me to train you three?"

Naruto let out a loud "yeah!" while Sasuke hmphed in annoyance, jerking his head to the side while uttering a "no." Sakura's eyes darted back and forth between her teammates, clearly at a loss.

"So which is it?"

"Okay fine," Naruto conceded. "We wanted to see what you were up to and maybe get a chance to see under your mask since it's your anniversary and all. Speaking of, you ditched us to do paperwork?!"

What a typical Naruto reaction.

"Rin and I are preparing for a mission," Kakashi explained. Shooting all three of them a scathing glare, he added, "No thanks to the three of you hindering our progress." Even if Kakashi did enjoy trolling his students, the two of them were due to leave the village in the next hour.

His students had the audacity to look guilty.

"A mission?" Sakura repeated. "We're not going?"

"It's a mission that requires stealth. WIth your performance today, it is evident that you all would fail the mission, miserably if I might add."

Technically, it was a diplomat mission, but in Kakashi's defense, there was a certain amount of stealth and tactic required in the art of diplomacy. While Sasuke had the former, he simply lacked the patience for it. Naruto had neither. Sakura was the only one with the potential of being a diplomat, but perhaps not for another five years when she grew up. When she actually had a fearsome reputation to back her name. When people would actually take a pink haired girl seriously.

"But we haven't had a mission in such a long time," Naruto whined.

Kakashi opened his mouth to point out they went on an errand for the Hokage just three days ago, but Naruto was quick to interject.

"Not some stupid mission," Naruto clarified. "A real mission. Like the one in Suna."

"Then I suggest you get training so you can pass the jonin exams," Kakashi said. "That way you won't be stuck doing grunt work."

If only that was true for Kakashi himself. Nevermind the fact that he made jonin at the age of twelve, the youngest in Konoha's history. Nevermind the fact that he was a seasoned Anbu operative, with ten years under his belt. Nevermind the fact that he was the infamous Copy ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan, in the bingo books across all major nations.

Yes, forget all of that because under Tsunade's reign, Kakashi would merely be treated as one of her assistants and consequently was subjected to all types of grunt work. Need someone on the rescue team? Call Kakashi. Need someone to travel to Suna for a diplomatic meeting? Call Kakashi. Need someone to file paperwork? Call Kakashi.

It was Sakura's hesitant words that jolted Kakashi out of his reverie. "Ne sensei? I heard rumors that you became a jonin at twelve and that your first mission was a bust. Is it true?"

A bust? That mission was a whole fucking disaster.

"I suppose," was Kakashi's cryptic response. "I was young and stupid back then and I made decisions that I still regret to this day."

"And I heard-"

Kakashi cut her off before Sakura could continue. "Don't believe everything that you hear. Perhaps I will tell you the truth one day, but not now."

Needless to say, that fueled the three of their curiosities even further. They knew little of what kind of person their sensei was, prior to being their sensei. There were a few whispers here and there, but all they really found out was that he had been in the Anbu Black Ops. And everything he practically did was classified.

It was from Gai sensei that they learned that Kakashi had led another team prior to Team Seven, a team called Team Ro. According to the overly enthusiastic man, that team was one of Konoha's best, but had broken up due to unknown circumstances.

Or rather, those circumstances were unknown until Sasuke stumbled upon a bingo book and managed to piece together two of the members of Team Ro. Itachi and Shisui Uchiha.

From there, it wasn't hard for Sasuke to realize exactly who composed Team Ro. His distant childhood memory often featured him staying over at Rin's apartment when his brother was busy. And if Team Ro was based off of the typical four man cell format, then: Kakashi, Rin, Shisui, and Itachi.

Still, that didn't explain anything. That didn't explain why Sasuke found old documents in the Uchiha compound demanding that Kakashi be killed. That didn't explain why Sakura heard rumors at the hospital that Kakashi wasn't mentally sane and hadn't been since he was four years old. That didn't explain why Naruto had to suffer a long two years of Kakashi's absence during his childhood. That didn't explain the offhand remarks that Kakashi often made about him looking like his father, or acting like his mother.

Rivalling their curiosity of their sensei's face underneath his mask, the three students wanted to know about their sensei's past.

If only they knew exactly what they were asking for.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Can't have a Naruto story without a Team Seven arc trying to see under Kakashi's mask, right? Haha. Sorry that it kind of turned dark at the end, but from here on out, we're quickly approaching the end! Honestly, writing this story made me realize how odd it is to have Sasuke still in Konoha - have to keep reminding myself to include him lol. **

**I suppose that I'm going to get questions why Naruto still doesn't know who his parents are (see last line, third to last paragraph) since he's grown up now, but to be honest, that part just slipped my mind with all of the changes I was making. Ideally if I could redo the story, I would slip it in after the chunin exam invasion, but since we are beyond that part now, I promise they'll have that conversation at a later date. **

**Next chapter is called Bounty Hunting.**

**Thank you for reading and until next time!**

**-MM**


	37. Bounty Hunting

**Chapter Thirty Six: Bounty Hunting**

After five hours of mind numbing paperwork, Tsunade desperately needed a drink. It was perfect too; both Shizune and Sakura weren't around to stop her. The only thing that could stop her was her conscience, but Tsunade couldn't care less. Her fingers reached for the bottom drawer, pulling it open before shoving aside the mess that laid within. Reaching the bottom, Tsunade removed the fake panel, revealing her hidden stash of sake. Just as her fingers curled around the neck of a bottom, a chunin came rushing into the office.

Shoving the drawer closed with enough force to make the entire desk shake, Tsunade demanded to know why the chunin had deemed it appropriate to barge into her office like that. Only Anbu and certain jonins had the permission to do that. Last time she checked, the mousy brown haired shinobi standing in front of her was neither.

To his credit, the chunin didn't stutter as he forced the words to come out of his mouth. "There has been an attack at the Fire Temple. My team is currently hauling the surviving monks to the hospital, but most of them are dead. Chiriku san's body is nowhere to be found."

Tsunade's teeth gnawed at her bottom lip as the chunin gave a detailed account of the disaster that he and his team had stumbled upon on their way back to the village.

"I see. You did well," Tsunade told him once the chunin had finished recounting his findings. Her mind was already whirling with the potential team that she would send out to investigate. Naturally, her first picks had been Kakashi and Rin before she remembered that she had just sent them out for a diplomat mission three days ago. Tsunade inwardly cursed the timing of it all.

It was only when the chunin cleared his throat did Tsunade realize that the kid was still there.

"I'm not sure if this is relevant," the chunin began, digging through his weapons pouch and retrieving a small black book. "But we found this at the site. You might want to look through it."

Placing the book on the desk, the chunin bowed before taking his leave. Tsunade sntached the book off of the edge of the desk, her fingers moving to thumb through the contents of it. Judging from the cover, it was a typical bingo book, so Tsunade wasn't surprised to see all sorts of high ranking ninjas enclosed.

Except it was different from the rest. Rather than being grouped by nations, the ninjas in the book were ranked by their bounty amounts. The black circling around the bounty numbers indicated special emphasis by the owner. Half of the nins in the book were already crossed out, including Chiriku.

The confidence associated with the gesture was concerning. To be confident enough to kill Chiriku to cross out the name beforehand meant that he wasn't an ordinary missing nin. Not to mention, Chiriku wasn't an easy opponent either...Tsunade was most definitely dealing with an S class missing nin.

To make matters worse, when Tsunade finally turned to the final page of the book, Kakashi and Rin's face stared back at her. It was a special entry by the bounty hunter, all of the notes detailing their skills and abilities were handwritten. The bounties placed on both of them were absurdly high, rivalling the likes of the Yondaime's amount.

None of that should have been concerning; it was perfectly normal for two notorious shinobis of Konoha to have a spot in the bounty book. What was concerning was the fact that both of their pictures had a black mark through it.

Just like Chiriku's.

The bounty hunter's next targets.

* * *

Rin wished that Kakashi was with her as she traversed the high altitude terrain belonging to the Land of Lightning. Scaling the rocky mountainside to reach Kumo was boring and tedious and she wished that there was someone she could talk to. That someone was supposed to be Pakkun, but the pug had decided it was time for a nap and had settled for climbing into her backpack to do so.

Her wish was unfounded and she knew it too. Logically, there was no need for the both of them for a simple diplomatic mission, so it was decided long enough that they would split up. Her to Kumo, while Kakashi took Kiri. At the very least, Rin was thankful that she didn't have to step foot into Kiri, not while the last time had been on very unpleasant terms.

A shiver crept up her spine as the memories of that time resurfaced in her mind. Squashing away all thoughts of that time, she recited everything that she knew about Kiri now. It was no longer known as the Bloody Mist. Kiri didn't hate Konoha any longer. It was now under the ruling of the Fifth Mizukage, not the Fourth.

It was all in the past now.

If Kiri could look past Konoha being the cause of the deaths of five out of seven of their Legendary Swordsman and make peace with Konoha, then Rin should do the same. But it was ridiculously hard to get past the trauma of having a tailed beast sealed inside of her, to be used as a weapon against Konoha, and practically dying.

She was still alive, Rin tried to console herself.

It didn't work. In the end, Rin decided to put forth the entirety of her concentration into scaling the mountain to prevent her thoughts from wandering. It was an effective plan for all of ten seconds.

The moment that Rin stepped foot at the top of the mountain, into the Village of the Hidden Clouds, two Kumo nins immediately intercepted her. Brother and sister if Rin had to venture to guess, based on the identical hair colorings and facial structure. Except the woman had a stoic look on her face while the man simply looked bored.

The blonde woman and Rin traded the customary "state your business" and confirmation of her identity while the younger man was sent off to inform the Raikage of Rin's presence, while the woman continued to grill her on every detail of her visit. Tactfully, Rin managed to evade most of her most prodding questions, as the details of her mission were for the Raikage's ears and eyes only. If the woman was to know of the details, then the Raikage would notify her in due time, but that wasn't up to her.

The woman caught on to Rin's tricks and perhaps even understood the reasoning behind it, but continued her relentless barrage of questions. Rin had never been more grateful to see another Kumo nin, this time one with a darker skin tone and hair coloring similar to Kakashi's. Even with the lollipop in his mouth, the man spoke to the woman, informing her that the Raikage wanted to see their guests.

With the lollipop boy flanking her right, slightly to the front leading the way to the Raikage Tower and the woman flanking her left, slightly to her backside to deter Rin from breaking rank and attacking the village, Rin felt thoroughly claustrophobic. It was such a contrast to visiting Suna, where Gaara practically gave her free reign around the village. Many of the smaller villages and towns didn't have the manpower to spare to follow her around (and she suspected many of them knew it wouldn't make much of a difference if she had guards or not), so Rin had total freedom. In Iwa, many of them were suspicious of her presence, but Onoki's word was law. No one bothered her there, save for the whispers behind her back.

Kumo was a whole different experience altogether, but Rin supposed it could be worse. At least she didn't have to stroll through the village in a henge, with her hands chained, then consequently thrown into the dungeons when her identity was busted the first time she visited. With her guards though, it certainly felt like she was on her way to jail.

Rin was in the middle of formulating her fifteenth escape plan, out of habit, when they finally arrived at the Raikage Tower. Lollipop boy opened the doors for her, gesturing for her to step inside. Rin did, with a blonde woman at her heels. The door was shut behind her.

The Raikage was sitting behind the desk, his Kage hat placed on the table in front of him, while two more men stood on either side of him. One Rin didn't recognize, but the other was definitely Bee, the Raikage's brother. Also known to be the host of the eight tails.

The brothers probably didn't remember, but it wasn't her first time meeting them. Once long ago, Rin had been dragged on a team full of jonins to serve as the team medic, lead by Minato sensei. And that had been her first time witnessing the to be Raikage in action.

Ay's presence was intimidating to most outsiders, but Rin had no qualms as she stepped forward, laying down a lone scroll on his desk before retreating. Each step she took had the occupants in the room tensing, except for Bee. The unknown man on the Raikage's right had even reached to touch the handle of his blade when she took her first step.

Rin didn't have any ill intentions, but of course they couldn't have known that.

While she waited for Ay to read the contents of the scroll, Rin busied herself to formulate her escape routes once more. On her fifth plan, her concentration was disrupted by Pakkun, who had woken from his nap and stuck his head out of the unzipped portion of her backpack. That sudden movement wasn't taken lightly by the woman, who launched a kunai with her lightning fast reflexes. Rin simply side stepped while Pakkun stuck his head back into the safety of her backpack, allowing the kunai to clatter against the tiled floor.

Five seconds passed before Pakkun deemed it safe enough to stick his head out once more, thankfully not warranting another kunai in their direction.

"Is it safe?" Pakkun asked as he crawled out of her backpack and darted up the length of her arm before coming to rest on her right shoulder.

"Sorry about my summon," Rin told the blonde woman, who looked irritated at the fact that she overreacted to the presence of a dog. "Travelling without company is boring. It slipped my mind to dispel him when I arrived at Kumo."

Pakkun wasn't her summon anyways, so she couldn't dispel him. Not that she wanted to...there was a good bit of traveling that Rin had to do before she met up with Kakashi for the trip home to Konoha.

Rin and Ay spent the next hour negotiating the terms of the trade agreement.

To be honest, Ay hadn't expected the girl to actually be a decent negotiator. Ay first proposed a revised agreement, twisting the terms in Kumo's favor thinking that the girl would defer to the Hokage's judgment and continue the negotiation at a later date or would foolishly accept the new terms. Ay was thoroughly surprised when the girl responded with amended terms that got rid of all the ones that favored Kumo. She passed his test, so Ay took the details of the trade agreement seriously from that point forward.

"That will be in Konoha's favor," Samui cut in, right after Rin proposed allowing Konoha access through the Hozuki Passage in exchange for valuable medical knowledge. "The Hozuki Pass is critical to Kumo's defense; we can't just let foreign nin strut through it like it's their home."

Without even looking up from the scroll where Rin was currently writing the amended details of the agreement, Rin responded to the woman's protests. "It's all a matter of perspective. For one, most of the traders that will be going through the pass will be civilian merchants. At most, they may hire a genin team to ensure the safety of their goods. Secondly, Hozuki Pass may be critical to your defense, but what will you have left to defend if your people are dying?

"Konoha has the best medical resources and knowledge among the five great nations and that was a result of over three decades of hard work," Rin continued. "All that Konoha requests is a safe passage for our merchants through your territory. If I may be frank, I do believe three decades worth of medical innovation is much more valuable than the revenue that Konoha may generate off of the additional trade. But like I said, it's a matter of perspective and if you feel that Kumo will be at a disadvantage, then I do believe this negotiation is over."

The sound of the paintbrush slamming against the table echoed through the room. Samui was left speechless.

"Very well, we will accept your terms," Ay declared. "And who will you send to reform our medical program?"

Picking up the paintbrush once more, Rin added the term to the agreement.

"Most likely my student. She may be young, but she became a top tiered medical ninja in less than three years. If you want the change to be quick, then Sakura will be the person for that."

"And not you?"

Rin laughed. "As you can see, I'm not much involved with Konoha's medical department. Somehow I got roped into becoming a diplomat, even though there are better candidates than myself."

That, Ay could attest to. From first glance, just based on appearance, Ay wanted to question her competency. The girl didn't look much older than twenty, even though the Raikage knew she was older; otherwise, the bingo book wouldn't list her feats during the Third Great Ninja War. And as far as Ay knew, the girl was an exceptional medical ninja, but beyond that, she wasn't known for much.

Her teammates were strong, but was she?

Sometime during the process of negotiation, Pakkun had hopped off her shoulder to roam around the room. Bee didn't seem bothered by the dog's presence. Samui had to use every bit of her self control to keep herself from attacking the summon once again. Darui...well

"Ah shinobi san," Rin said. "I would advise you to not electrocute my summon, thank you."

The man in question blinked and instantly stopped molding his chakra. Darui hadn't even been aware that he was subconsciously molding his chakra as the dog came near him, sniffing at his pant leg.

"Oi, this brat was the one in the mountains. The sixth chakra signature that you never found."

The mountains, what?

Neither the dog nor the owner cared to clear up Darui's confusion. Instead, Rin finished rewriting the contract and handed it off to Ay, who scanned through it and signed off on it. Rolling the scroll back up and tucking it into her weapons pouch, Rin stood up, exchanging the usual pleasantries with the Raikage.

Ay simply grunted for most of his responses.

"And a simple word of advice, look after your jinchuurikis. There are people who are after them. You are in possession of the two and eight tailed beasts, no?"

All of the occupants of the room were startled to know that Rin knew. It had been common knowledge long ago, but over the generations, the knowledge waned to the point where only the leaders of the village knew about it.

"And what of it?" Ay grounded out defensively.

"I'm sure that you heard about what happened in Suna," Rin said. "The Akatsuki is an organization composed of ten S ranked missing nins from all over the nation. Their goal is the collection of all of the tailed beasts. I believe it is in our best interests to prevent them from capturing them."

"I understand."

"And it seems that they are collecting them in order, so the two tails should be next-"

Rin was cut off when a Kumo burst into the room, informing the Raikage in between inhales of air that Yugito was found dead. Yugito...the jinchuuriki of the two tails.

That was not good news.

* * *

While Kumo was sent into a frenzy to track down the killers, Rin took the opportunity to slip out of Kumo. Most likely if she had stayed any longer, Ay would certainly grill her on everything that she knew about the Akatsuki and she was not looking forward to another interrogation by another Kumo nin.

So she left.

Pakkun had parted ways with her earlier, to inform Kakashi of the new findings. Now all Rin needed to do was head home as soon as possible, find Akemi and Momo so that she could get in contact with Itachi and Shisui. Rin needed to know the Akatsuki's plans. When were they going to come after her? Who was coming after her?

Following the mission to rescue Gaara, both her and Kakashi had burned the contents of the scroll detailing the Akatsuki's skills to memory, but there was still so much information that was missing.

Apart from Deidara, the only other nin that Itachi and Shisui had gathered a substantial amount of information on was someone named Hidan. Reportedly, Hidan was immortal so that posed a significant problem as to how she was going to defeat him.

Kisame was one of the Legendary Swordsman, so it didn't take much to draw some conclusions as to what skills he might possess, but there was still a lot unknown.

Kakuzu, Pein, and Konan were practically mysteries aside from Pein possessing the Rinnegan.

Zetsu wasn't a combat type, so Rin didn't have to worry about him coming after her. She also highly doubted that the leader would come after her himself, so she crossed Pein and Konan off of the list. That left the Uchihas, Hidan and Kakuzu, or Kisame. A fight with any of them didn't seem appealing at all.

After three days of travelling, Rin had gotten her answers when a man with a red scythe attempted to hack off her head and would have succeeded in doing so, if her reaction speed had been a fraction of a second slower. Eyeing the scythe warily, Rin moved to place a considerable distance between the two of them.

A long range battle would be in her favor. The problem was keeping it a long range battle, when the terrain was dry, with little trees in the vicinity, leaving her unable to use any of her water or ice jutsus without utilizing a large amount of chakra.

A second man lazily joined his comrade, his green eyes fixated on her.

Kakuzu.

"If you just give up, we can make this as painless as possible. Rest assured that we won't harm you too much as you still need to be recognizable so I can collect the bounty on your head."

That was from Kakuzu and Rin almost wanted to scoff at the irony of his statement. Won't harm her, but was here to kill her?

"That won't be happening," Rin responded haughtily, her hand already reaching into her weapons pouch to feel for a familiar three pronged kunai. Fighting Hidan wouldn't be a problem as long as she stayed out of his range, but fighting both of them was a different story. Especially since she knew practically nothing about Kakuzu's abilities.

"I'll do it," Hidan announced before he began to run towards her at top speed. Capturing him in a genjutsu, Rin turned toward Kakuzu, who was yelling about Hidan's stupidity. Yanking out the kunai, she tossed it straight towards Kakuzu, who easily dodged it. Smirking as Kakuzu paid no heed to it, Rin launched three senbons at Hidan, piercing three of his vital points before he finally realized he was in a genjutsu.

"You baka-!"

Kakuzu was never able to finish his sentence as a blur appeared behind him. A moment later, a chidori was thrusted straight through his heart.

Capitalizing on Hidan's distracted state at his comrade's death, Rin jumped to attack him, engaging him in a series of punches and kicks. Kicking at his knee, Rin followed up with an uppercut, which Hidan leaned back to avoid, giving Rin more than enough time to yank out her flute. Using it to block the scythe that came down upon her, the metal clashed against each other.

Hidan froze.

Rin took the opportunity to wrangle the scythe out of his grasp and turned it on him, using it to slash it across his chest, deep enough to cut through some major nerves. Hidan recovered from the genjutsu just in time to avoid her second slash, aimed to sever his head from the rest of his body. Catching the tip of the scythe with his bare hands, he attempted to retake his weapon. Rin held strong with the aid of chakra, digging the blade into his hand even further to the point where it pierced through the entirety of his hand.

Hidan grinned, his tongue moving to lick the blood that splattered on his face. Eyes widening as she registered another presence behind her, Rin retreated, yanking the scythe along with her, ripping through Hidan's hand just as a blast of fire scorched the spot that she had been moments before.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a black creature with a mask before it was joined by another. Both of their mouths opened, sending a heavy blast of wind and fire in her direction. With shunshin, Rin dodged the attack, regrouping with Kakashi who was actively engaged in a taijutsu fight with Kakuzu all while avoiding the lightning creature.

"Five hearts," Kakashi informed her as he continued to scale up the tree to follow Kakuzu. "Got to kill him five times."

Kakuzu merely hmphed. "Like you can."

"Catch!" Rin called out, tossing the scythe to Kakashi. Nodding in understanding of the plan, Rin jumped back down onto the ground, narrowly avoiding a lightning strike. Running around the area in circles, the lightning creature continued to follow her, zapping the ground every so often.

Hands forming the familiar seals for a C ranked water jutsu - it was going to cost so much chakra but it would be worth it - Rin managed to create a puddle in the clearing just as Hidan jumped in, swinging a black rod at her. Ducking to avoid the hit, her feet carried her out of the puddle. Her hands caught the black rod as Hidan swung it at her once more. With sheer force, Rin broke the sharp tip of the rod.

While Hidan stared at his broken weapon in shock, the lightning creature emitted lightning from its mouth, hitting its mark in the puddle. Seeing a battered Hidan being electrified was surprisingly satisfying, but Rin didn't have much time to gloat as the lightning creature turned on her. A wall of ice emerged from the puddle, blocking the worst of the lightning attack.

Sliding out from beneath the ice wall, Rin marked the tip of the rod that she had broken before hurling it towards the lightning creature's mask. It responded against the offending object with another blast of lightning, but the rod remained intact. Flashing to the rod after the streak of lightning died out, Rin slapped an explosive tag on its mask, then shunin away before it attempted to electrocute her again.

The blast resonated through the area as the creature turned into a pile of black goo, its mask cracked into at least ten pieces.

Time to aid Kakashi.

Only to be interrupted as Kakuzu hopped down right in front of her, his arm shooting out to grab her by the throat. Teleporting out his tight grasp, Rin rejoined Kakashi who was currently warding off both the fire and wind creatures. Exchanging nods, Rin took the scythe away from him once more before leaping down to face off against Hidan and Kakuzu.

Kakuzu hardly looked amused to see that another one of his hearts had been destroyed.

"Tsk, I will take both of your hearts to replace mine," Kakuzu vowed.

Three more hearts and an immortal being to get rid of. Tossing three kunais attached to explosive tags at Kakuzu, Rin allowed them to detonate before she tossed a few of her senbons into the fray. Teleporting to them, she pinpointed Kakuzu's location in the thickness of the smoke and swung the scythe in a wide arc, slicing through Kakuzu's arm. Abandoning the scythe, Rin retreated.

Spinning around, Rin blocked Hidan's punch. Swinging her foot in a wide arc, she forced Hidan to jump. Latching onto Hidan's arm, she used his momentum against him, tossing him and sending him crashing straight into Kakuzu, who had just recovered his footing.

That sent Kakuzu crashing back down onto the ground, while Hidan caught his fall with an unsteady backflip. Kakashi teleported to Kakuzu's side, then to Rin's side, allowing the fire and wind masks chasing him to hit Kakuzu's body with their combo.

Wordlessly, Rin placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, already channelling her chakra to replenish his. She had been able to fill him up to about half when Hidan jumped out of the smoke, swinging his scythe down at her. Casting a simple genjutsu while Rin teleported Kakashi out of the way, then she rolled across the ground out of Hidan's reach.

Blood dripped at the tip of his scythe. With maniacal laughter, Hidan licked the blood off of his scythe, turning his flesh black with outlines of his skeleton. Stabbing himself in the leg, Hidan used the blood to draw a circle around him with the soles of his feet.

The ritual, just like Itachi had described in the scroll.

"Die!" Hidan yelled as he raised his scythe, stabbing the tip straight into his chest, where the heart was located. Silence permeated their surroundings as Hidan rammed his scythe deeper into his chest. Confusion was evident on Hidan's face as he registered that the woman was still standing, with no signs of keeling over.

Instead it was Kakuzu who fell over, clutching his heart as his body writhed in agony. Before Hidan had a chance to utter a single word, Rin teleported to the seal on his scythe. Using her chakra scalpel, she cleanly sliced through his neck, separating head from body. The head fell, bouncing against the ground, muttering all of the expletives known to man while the body collapsed chest first into the dirt.

Kakashi took over with burying Hidan's body underground with a doton jutsu while Rin kept an eye on Kakuzu, who was currently recovering after taking the heart from the wind mask.

Two more to go.

The fire mask launched a fireball at the two of them, which was countered by a water jutsu on Rin's end. Leaping onto the trunk of the dead trees, Rin weaved in and out of the fire creature's sight as it launched fireballs all along the length of the trunk. At the top of the trunk, Rin leapt to the ground as the fire creature scorched the area where she had been moments before. Running at top speed, she slid underneath the creature, between its legs when it finally noticed her.

It was too late as Rin had begun to scale the fire creature's back, aiming to reach the head. Another explosive tag would do the trick nicely and she would have succeeded if the creature didn't burst into flames. Hissing from the pain, Rin teleported herself off of the creature, dousing her feet with a water jutsu.

The damage was done. Third degree burns from the ankle down. Sending healing chakra down to her feet, Rin was too distracted to notice that the fire creature was still moving despite being on fire.

Self destruction, but it wouldn't go down without one more fireball in Rin's direction. Once again, her sensei's jutsu saved her from being fried to a crisp. Her landing was sloppy, stumbling for two steps before she managed to catch her balance.

Her feet still felt like they were on fire.

Dropping down into a sitting position, her hands moved to her feet, doubling the healing chakra to repair the scarred nerves and burnt tissue before it was too late. Her mouth bit into the fabric of her shirt to help keep some of the pain at bay. It wasn't sanitary, but she couldn't care less in that moment.

And that was how Kakashi found her five minutes later after destroying Kakuzu's last heart, plus the tears that had begun to stream down her cheeks.

Despite being thoroughly chakra exhausted and every muscle in his body aching, he still found the strength to plop down by Rin's side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she continued to heal herself.

Burns...the bane of every medic's existence because they were ridiculously hard to heal. Not only did it consume a lot of chakra, it was painful for the victim throughout the long healing process and medical ninjutsu wouldn't be enough to heal it all the way.

When Rin finished, Kakashi helped to lift her to her feet. She hissed as the soles of her feet came in contact with the ground. The bandages would prevent infection, but it hurt to put weight on it.

"It might be a couple of days before I can walk normally," Rin informed him. A couple of days until the tissue in her feet didn't feel so tender and raw.

Kakashi set her gently back onto the ground, before he squatted down in front of her.

"Get on," he ordered. Rin complied, climbing atop of his back and wrapping her legs around his waist, while her arms draped around his neck. Somewhere in the process of the fight, Kakashi had lost his flak jacket and backpack. Her own backpack was barely salvageable, the exterior had been burnt to a crisp, but she hoped that her supplies would still be usable. The amount of money that the two of them spent to replace supplies was… exceedingly high.

While Kakashi carried her towards Konoha, she absently began to channel some of her chakra to him and focused some towards her feet to ease the stabbing pain.

"I'm next. They already got the two tails…"

"We won't let them get you. The Akatsuki is down to four members now. Of the remaining members, two of them are on our side, one is non combat, so there's only three of them left. We can take them on."

Rin wished she shared the same optimism. If today's battle was anything to go by, each member of the Akatsuki had a peculiar trick up their sleeves. Kakuzu with five hearts and Hidam, an immortal being? If she didn't have intel or help from Kakashi, there was no doubt that she would have been dead.

And their leader was supposedly much stronger than the rest.

* * *

Asuma was assigned to be the squad leader of a twelve man squad. He didn't even question why the squad was so large, the largest squad that he had ever been in was a six man team during war. All he needed to hear was Kakashi and Rin, along with the word Akatsuki and danger to understand why Tsunade had sent out such a large squad.

If even Kakashi and Rin weren't able to take down the threat by themselves, then Asuma knew that they were going to need a lot of manpower, skill, and luck by their sides.

The Rookie Nine plus Gai's team had been the perfect choice. Aside from the fact that they all happened to be in the village at the same time, the twelve of them covered everything from long to short range. Team Kurenai was an excellent tracking team and was currently scouting for Kakashi or Rin's location as they sped through the forest. Team Asuma could serve as a delay team, to buy time for escape or attack. Team Kakashi and Gai could serve as their combat front.

A yip from Akamaru was the first indication, followed by Neji and Hinata informing the group that they spotted two figures up ahead. Asuma gave the signal to halt, much to Naruto's annoyance, who was itching to get to his sensei already.

"There's no sign of fighting," Hinata reported. "The two of them are headed in our direction."

"Akamaru says it's Kakashi sensei," Kiba added.

"I see. Alright, let's head-"

"No need," Neji interjected. "They'll be here in two minutes."

Just like Neji said, Kakashi appeared into view one hundred seconds later, carrying an unconscious Rin on his back. His lone black eye surveyed the crowd before his lips curled up into a smile.

"My, my, what a welcome party."

Asuma didn't know whether he should be angry that Kakashi was taking their presence so lightly - the man knew even better than him what they had been there for - or just happy that two of his closest friends were still alive.

"Kakashi sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're still alive! Tsunade baa chan said that you were in danger and I thought that…"

"Maa, I didn't realize that you think that lowly of me, but then again, I don't think you've ever seen me at my best."

That Asuma could attest to. For a man known to have over one thousand jutsus in his arsenal, Asuma may have only seen a grand total of less than twenty in the years that he worked with Kakashi. It was evident the man preferred to stick with the same jutsus and use his intelligence to win the battle rather than to overpower the other individual.

As for being at his best, Asuma heard plenty of stories from his father about Anbu Kakashi. They were slightly frightening, but awe inspiring at the same time.

"Are you injured?" Sakura asked, her green eyes roaming over the both of them.

"Mild chakra exhaustion, minor cuts and bruises, you know, the usual" Kakashi responded. "Rin injured her foot, but I think she was able to heal most of it."

Asuma stepped forward, asking the burning question on everyone's mind. The man hadn't seen his friend in such a rough condition with a missing forehead protector, flak jacket, and gloves in such a long time. As for Rin, her backpack was charred and her sandals were missing. Bandages covered both of her feet.

"Who was it?"

Kakashi didn't beat around the bush. "Akatsuki. One couldn't die and the other had five lives."

That certainly explained a lot about their current state of wear. Asuma shuddered at the thought of having to kill an S class ninja five times and fighting another that couldn't be killed.

"Let's head back."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Not much to say for this chapter. I don't know if you felt that Kakashi and Rin were OP (I know I did so I dragged out the fight a little longer than the original version), but I don't think Hidan's immune to genjutsu and I found that Minato's jutsu is insanely hard to counter. Like what can you do when someone appears in front of your face for a split second? Sorry if the fight was bad. **

**Next chapter is called Five Great Nations. We are entering into the final arc of the story. :) Who's excited for this story to end? I know I am lol, this story ended up being way longer than I anticipated, like double the length. **

**Thank you for reading and until next time!**


	38. Five Great Nations

**Chapter Thirty Seven: Five Great Nations **

In Kumo, a recently minted chunin, the sole survivor of his four man squad, returned to Kumo with fear etched all over his face. His eyes were blank, clothes stained with his comrades' blood, while his shaky hands handed over the scroll to the Raikage before collapsing into a heap on the floor. Ay unrolled the scroll, eyes taking in the kanji on the page. In a fit of anger, his fingers curled up into a fist. With the aid of his chakra, the fist smashed straight through the desk, much to his guards' surprise.

In Suna, Gaara had sent Temari to his office to retrieve some documents for the council meeting. While the Kazekage sat in the council room, waiting for the rest of the councilmen to filter in, his sister strolled down the hall, greeting everyone she passed with a slight head nod. Reaching Gaara's office in four minutes, Temari pushed open the door and made a beeline to his desk. There, the documents in a folder right at the top of the stack. Grabbing and tucking the folder underneath her arm, Temari was ready to leave when the corner of her eye spotted a nondescript looking white scroll on Gaara's desk. A white scroll...who was it from? Konoha used green, Kiri used blue, Iwa used brown, Kumo used red, and Suna used yellow.

Her thumb and pointer finger flicked off the sticker on the scroll, unravelling it across Gaara's desk. Her sea green eyes took in the words, eyes widening considerably the more that she read on. Wrapping the scroll in a haste, Temari grabbed it along with her as she took off running in the direction of the council room.

Gaara needed to see this.

In Kiri, Chojuro wandered around town, making the most of his day off as the Mizukage's guard. Ao was surely disgruntled that he didn't get a day off as well, but in Chojuro's defense, he was severely chakra depleted anyways after a rough training session with aspiring swordsmen. If Chojuro dared to say, he definitely deserved a break, yet his upbringing wouldn't allow him to directly voice his thoughts to his senpai's face.

A soft smile graced his features as he watched fondly as a group of kids tore down the street, chasing after a brown haired boy. Occasionally, the boy would stop and turn around to edge on his friends, leading to a renewed vigor to catch the fast boy. Their sounds of laughter mixed in with the everyday sounds of the bustling market.

Whipping his head to the right side after catching a blur of black out of the corner of his eye, Chojuro instinctively reached for a kunai. By that time, the figure had already gone, leaving behind a white scroll in his place. Hesitantly, Chojuro bent down and picked up the scroll. Examining it from all sides, he determined that there were no seals anywhere on the scroll, which was unhighly uncommon.

Perhaps it was an empty scroll that another shinobi happened to drop? Shrugging, Chojuro unravelled the scroll to confirm his thoughts and found that he couldn't have been further from the truth.

It definitely wasn't empty. The Mizukage needed to see this.

In Iwa, Kouichi watched from afar as his two children ran around, playing a game of tag with the other civilian kids. Content that his kids were still safe, his eyes fell back down to his book, his finger moving to flip to the next page. With eighty percent of his concentration on the book, the other twenty was devoted to keeping up with his kids' exact location at all times by feeling for their chakra signature. Despite no longer being fit for active duty, that didn't mean Kouichi didn't retain some skills from his ninja days.

It was twenty pages later that Kouichi felt his kids approaching him. Glancing up from his book and angling the contents of the book away from his son - there would be hell to pay if his wife caught wind of their son witnessing his reading material - he waited patiently as the eight year old boy ambled his way to him.

"Tousan," the boy called, outstretching his hand to reveal a white scroll, that had been dirtied by the dirt. Kouichi took the scroll out of his son's hands, eyeing it carefully.

It wasn't certainly any kind that one would find in Iwa.

"Where did you get this?" Kouichi questioned lightly, watching his son as his face scrunched up in confusion.

"I dunno. We found it on the ground."

Nodding in acceptance of his son's explanation, Kouichi motioned for his son to go back to his friends. His son took off, joining the ranks of the other kids as they continued to finish their game of tag. Snapping his book shut and setting it off to the side, Kouichi became interested in the mysterious scroll. Brushing the dirt off of the scroll before he unrolled it, Kouichi figured that it probably belonged to a civilian and contained something inconsequential like cooking recipes or something of that sort.

His eyes skimmed over the kanji before he blinked twice, then read each word carefully. No, his eyes weren't deceiving him.

It was exactly as he had thought.

Tossing one last glance towards his kids, Kouichi stood up and headed towards town to hunt down the nearest shinobi. His dad needed to see this…

In Konoha, the usual gang gathered in at a regular tea shop, but this time, they were joined by Genma and Raidou, who they haven't seen in quite a while. Their presence wasn't unwelcomed however, as the first half hour of their get together was spent mostly with Kurenai grilling Genma and Raidou on their lives since the last time they saw each other a few months back.

"Perhaps you should consider becoming a jonin," Kurenai suggested.

Genma scoffed. "Being a special jonin keeps me from having to take on a genin team. Who wants to deal with genin brats?"

Kakashi hummed in agreement.

"You all will be assigned a new team soon, will you not?" Raidou questioned, eyeing the four jonin senseis. Kurenai shrugged, exchanging a look with Asuma.

"I mean, all of your kids are chunins now, so you are no longer their team leader," Raidou tacked on, after a lack of response.

"Maa. I am not taking on another genin team again," Kakashi announced as he leaned back against his seat. "What a nuisance."

"But you love them just the same," Rin added, elbowing Kakashi's side teasingly. "What will you do without them?"

Kakashi rolled his eye. "You're the only one who hasn't taken a team yet. Maybe you should take one then come back and tell me how much of a delight they are."

His voice was full of sarcasm, earning a chortle from Asuma. Kurenai bit back a smile, Gai went on about how he was going to take on another team and pass on his youthfulness to another generation. All members around the table immediately felt sorry for whoever ended up on Gai's team. Mentally scarring one team was already more than enough.

Kurenai expressed her wish to receive another team, while Asuma remained indifferent. To become jonin sensei or to rejoin the regular jonin forces didn't really matter to him.

"Future plans, Kakashi? Rin?"

"Retire," Kakashi deadpanned. "Although that will be practically impossible while Tsunade sama is in office. What a slave driver."

Genma and Raidou could sympathize having been on the receiving end of Tsunade's never ending list of tasks for them to complete.

"Well that's what happens when you happen to be competent at everything," Kurenai pointed out.

"I wasn't competent at diplomacy when Tsunade sama first took office."

"You are a natural at everything," Kurenai countered. "But really, what do you want to do?"

"Just be a regular jonin I suppose," Kakashi responded wistfully. "Take one or two missions a week depending on how long the missions are. Spend the rest of the time to create some new jutsus. That's all."

"Only one or two? That's not youthful, my rival!" Gai exclaimed.

"I have almost two thousand missions under my name," Kakashi drawled. "I'm not looking to extend it to three."

All of them were impressed by the number, except for Rin, who was already aware of the exact number. For a normal shinobi, completing about six hundred to eight hundred missions was the average. Some reached over a thousand if they were ambitious. Two thousand was practically unheard of.

Gai was saying something about his self imposed challenge to catch up to Kakashi or else he would run two thousand laps around the village, but the others had learned long ago to tune out Gai's antics. Kurenai turned to Kakashi, voicing the question that everyone had on their minds.

"How?"

"Well," Kakashi began. "When you spend ten years in the Anbu with the mentality of it not mattering if you died or not, then you tend to rack up a lot of missions. Especially S ranked, since no one wants to take those."

Asuma and Kurenai had known that Kakashi had depression, but to hear it come so candidly out of his mouth was so shocking to them.

"I don't think you ever knew, but I almost died once on a mission," Rin told them. "I was hanging in the limbo between life and afterlife and I thought about how easy it would be to just die. To be able to leave behind all of the pain and losses. To get to see the people who have died again."

"Oh, I'm sorry that we didn't know-"

"You don't have to be," Rin interjected, cutting Kurenai off. "Kakashi and I are thankful that you guys were always looking out for us, even when we distanced ourselves from you."

Genma grunted. "As long as you don't do stupid things again like going on suicide missions one after another."

"Too old for that anyways," Kakashi said, waving off Genma's concerns. "Now I can just leisurely go on B ranked missions with my team and make them do all of the work while I sit back and do nothing. And get a higher split of the money since I'm higher ranking."

His comment earned a round of laughter.

"Hey I meant to ask," Asuma began. "Who were those people you fought on your last mission?"

"Akatsuki," Rin answered. "I'm sure you've heard. They're part of the same organization as the ones who kidnapped the Kazekage."

"The organization that the Uchihas joined?" Genma questioned, seemingly having no qualms with mentioning the Uchihas by name, while Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai always tried to stray away from mentioning them directly in Kakashi and Rin's faces. Luckily, Rin and Kakashi didn't show any outward reaction that they were affected by it.

Perhaps it had been such a long time that the wounds have closed?

"Yes," Rin confirmed. "According to our intel, there are ten members in total. Four have been killed, which leaves us with six, two of them being Itachi and Shisui. If our intel is to be believed, then they are after the tailed beasts."

She refrained from mentioning that their intel was certainly to be believed. Only five people ever knew the truth behind the Uchiha massacre, and only three of the five knew that the Uchihas were working as spies for Konoha. And one of them, the Third Hokage, was dead. The elders were oblivious. Only Rin and Kakashi knew and they planned to keep it that way.

"The tailed beasts?" Raidou repeated. "What for?"

"Who knows," Kakashi stated. "All we know is that it will be something bad, so we'll prevent them from reaching their goal."

"The Kyuubi," Asuma said. "Is that why they attacked you? To get information about Naruto's whereabouts?"

"Something like that," Kakashi responded.

They moved on to a different topic, which Rin was half listening to when she felt a light nudge against her foot. Peeking down under the table, she spotted Akemi, who was impatiently swishing his tail. Depositing the scroll in his mouth onto the ground, the cat streaked off, his presence unnoticed by everyone save for Kakashi. Grabbing the scroll off of the ground, Rin unfurled it, angling it so that only Kakashi and her could see the contents of the scroll.

Without a word, the two disappeared from sight in the next moment, leaving behind just enough to pay for their tea. The rest of the group blinked at the now empty seats, but chalked it up to something important that had come up.

Tsunade wasn't fond of Kakashi and Rin when they appeared in her office out of nowhere. Though she would never admit it, their sudden presence had scared her and she had been this close to mistaking them as intruders. The Anbu guards were half a second late to react, which meant Tsunade would have been dead if they were real intruders. One of the Anbu simply muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "senpai is fast like always," before he retreated back to his post.

"What is it?" Tsunade demanded.

"I think you need to see this."

A white scroll containing a declaration of war against Konoha if they didn't hand over the jinchuurikis to the Akatsuki.

A fucking declaration of war.

Tsunade desperately needed a drink.

Over the next few days, correspondence from other nations poured in, inquiring if Konoha had received the same threat of war. Tsunade felt marginally better that it wasn't only Konoha that they were targeting, but remained concerned at the Akatsuki's strength to have the guts to declare war against all five nations at once.

Even if the Akatsuki comprised all S level shinobis, it was unfathomable to think that they could challenge all five great nations at once. The Five Great Nations had gained their reputation for a reason.

Correspondence occurred for the entire week and the following week before all of the Kages had come to a consensus to agree to a Five Kage Summit in the Land of the Iron. Mifune, the leader of the samurai, had agreed to serve as the mediator between the five nations. Tensions had lessened considerably since the era of the Third Great Shinobi War, but they wouldn't be the Five Great Nations if they weren't still at odds with each other over the most miniscule of things.

In the meantime, Rin and Kakashi attempted to contact Itachi and Shisui to get more information about this sudden declaration of war, but was met with silence until the day before the convention. Their response had simply stated that they were unable to meet, which Rin deciphered as they were under supervision too closely for them to leave.

It made sense that the Akatsuki would have gathered together in preparation for the war, although the mere thought of it simply made her uneasy. What could six missing nins, three excluding the Uchihas and Zetsu, who wasn't known to be a fighter, do against the Five Great Nations?

The Akatsuki definitely had an ace up their sleeves and it drove Rin crazy not knowing what it was.

Kakashi and Rin didn't have any more time to ponder over it as they were being dragged along to the Five Kage Summit, partly to serve as Tsunade's guards and partly because they were familiar with the other Kages.

Strange couldn't even describe how it felt to see all five Kages sitting in a single room without being at each other's throats. Mifune was seated at the head of the table, while the Kazekage and Mizukage was on the left. The Hokage and Tsuchikage sat on the right, with the Raikage on the other end of the table, facing directly at Mifune. Each Kage's guards stood behind their respective Kages.

At the same time, all five Kages lifted their hat off of their heads, placing it directly on the table in front of them and proceeded to eye each other warily.

It was Onoki who broke the silence. "I do believe that we are no longer in the era of war, so there's no reason for us to size each other up like we are prey and predator."

Gaara was the first to agree, followed by Tsunade. Mei reluctantly followed, but Ay remained stubborn.

"We are in the same situation, Raikage," Gaara said. "It will do no good if we are fighting against each other. We should focus on uniting against our common enemy, the Akatsuki."

Ay relented and the discussion began.

"I don't care who the Akatsuki are," Ay grunted. "I am not giving my brother up."

Onoki affirmed Ay's statement in regards to Iwa's two jinchuurikis, as did Tsunade with Naruto.

"Utakata is no longer affiliated with Kiri; however, I am not willing to allow the Akatsuki to succeed in their goals," Mei stated.

Gaara was next. "They have already taken Shukaku away from me. Suna will assist to ensure that they do not acquire another."

"Too late," Ay jut in. "They have gotten Matatabi. And of the three tails?"

No one answered.

"Doesn't Kiri have possession of the three tails?" Gaara prompted.

"No one knows," Mei admitted. "There have been documents from the days of the Second Mizukage, but the Fourth had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the Sanbi. Many of the older shinobis believed that the host died and the Sanbi died along with it."

"Tailed beasts will reappear after a certain amount of time, so by now, the Sanbi should be somewhere. Regardless, I do believe we are all in agreement that we will fight back against the Akatsuki, no matter what it takes," Onoki stated. "Does anyone have intel on the Akatsuki?"

Tsunade glanced at Rin, prompting her to step forward, garnering all of the attention of the Kage.

"There were eleven members of the Akatsuki," Rin began. "Orochimaru from the Leaf, left the organization some time ago and was killed by the Third Hokage. Sasori of the Sand and Deidara of the Stone were involved in the kidnapping of the Kazekage and have been killed. Kakuzu of the Waterfall and Hidan of the Hot Water confronted Kakashi and I and were killed in that battle. If our intel is correct, then there are six remaining members: Itachi and Shisui Uchiha from the Leaf, Kisame from the Mist, the two leaders from the Rain, and a man named Zetsu with no particular origins. Primarily, Zetsu is a non combat type, but serves as the Akatsuki's spy."

"Only six of them and they want to take on the Five Great Nations?" Ay scoffed.

"Their leaders' skills are unknown," Gaara warned. "To be the leader of Akatsuki, they must be stronger than the others. If my fight with Deidara is any indication of their strength, then they aren't anyone that any one of us can take on in a fight. Not to mention a Legendary Swordsman isn't an easy opponent either, much less the Uchiha cousins. Their genjutsu isn't easy to counter."

Onoki's gaze slid to Kakashi and Rin. "Those Uchihas...they were the same brats from back then, aren't they?"

Kakashi nodded.

"What went wrong? The four of you seemed to be inseparable."

"Circumstances," Rin answered. "We are no longer the same people we were back then. Back then, we were young and naive…and vulnerable."

"And if you were to face them on the battlefield, would you be able to kill them?" Ay questioned. Kakashi and Rin exchanged looks.

"We'll do our best." Both of them knew it wouldn't come to that.

The Kages moved on to battle plans, debating on the best locations to hide their jinchuurikis and whether or not all of their forces should gather together or stay within their own village. It had been an hour long discussion and would have continued if it wasn't for Zetsu popping out of nowhere, right in the middle of the table.

The only person that hadn't been surprised at his sudden appearance was Rin, who had sensed him coming.

"My, my what a lovely union between nations," Zetsu said, a sinister grin forming on his face. "I haven't seen this since the time of the founding of the villages."

"You're Akatsuki," Onoki said through gritted teeth.

"Wow I am surprised that you know who I am," Zetsu said, applauding sarcastically. "But I suppose I should thank Rin chan for that, shouldn't I? After all, it's practically impossible to stalk you without you noticing my presence."

All Zetsu received was silence. "My, you are no fun, just like those Uchihas. Perhaps I'll get more of a reaction out of you if I tell everyone all of your secrets? That way, everyone will turn on you and then we can easily capture you. After all, Konoha shinobis are nothing without their bonds with their comrades, am I right?"

"And what secret could you possibly know?" Rin retorted. The truth of her being Isobu's jinchuuriki would come out sooner or later, so Rin wasn't too concerned. And predictably, that was what came out of Zetsu's mouth.

"Such aggression from the host of the Sanbi. Tell me, on a scale of one to ten, how much do you despise Kiri?"

The news was received with mixed reactions. Mostly confusion, but also anger towards Zetsu, as well as shock from the Mizukage.

"Tell me Bakashi, how did it feel to Chidori your own friend?" A flicker of confusion washed over Kakashi's features; there was only one person who ever called him that and he was dead. Was Zetsu alluding to something?

"Poor Rin," Zetsu continued. "A thirteen year old girl who was torn between protecting her village and dying. Or perhaps you were too traumatized at having a tailed beast sealed inside of you. Too bad that you survived...Tobi wouldn't have been such a mess if you died."

Rin gritted her teeth. "Perhaps I should blame you as you were part of the scheme."

Zetsu merely shrugged. "How about I turn your village against you if I reveal that you fought against the real leader of the Akatsuki during the Kyuubi attack on Konoha? That you knew of the Akatsuki's formation and plans all along, but have done nothing about it all of these years to stop this from happening?

"Tell me, how would Bakashi feel if he knew that Obito Uchiha didn't die in the caves, but rather by your own hand on the night of the Kyuubi attack?"

"I didn't kill him!" Rin protested, shaking her head vigorously as the first wave of tears slid down her cheek. "I'm-"

"A traitor to Konoha?" Zetsu casually suggested with a smug smile on his features. "Don't try to deny the fact that you have ties with the Uchiha cousins. After all, who is the one keeping their eyesight in top shape after all of these years? You, of course."

Rin lunged at him, pushing past Tsunade to step onto the table. Right as her hand swiped at Zetsu, he sank down into the table, letting her grab air. With just his head now visible, Zetsu shot her a parting smirk, leaving her with an ominous warning that she would be next. Before she got the chance to kick him in the face, Zetsu disappeared into the table completely.

His chakra signature flickered out of her range.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ay demanded, slamming his fist onto the table. It took all of the many years of shinobi training for Rin to refrain from flinching.

Her eyes flickered to every occupant in the room, from the Kages to their respective guards. It was a varying range of distrust, curiosity, wariness, and expectancy on their faces. All of that she could handle, but one look at the betrayal written all over Kakashi's face, her heart dropped.

All it took was three words from him, one question. "Is it true?"

She couldn't play dumb; there was nothing for her to do in that moment except nod.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" The anger and hurt in his voice was something that Rin would never be able to get out of her head. "Why didn't you tell me that Obito was the masked man? Why didn't you tell me that Obito was the one who extracted the Kyuubi from Kushina and tried to destroy the village? Why didn't you tell me that Obito was still alive? Why did you lie to me that you didn't know who the masked man was?

"Why the-"

Kakashi didn't bother to continue his train of thought. With a disappointed shake of his head, Kakashi teleported out of the room, leaving them in awkward silence. She could pinpoint his location five kilometers away and could have easily gone after him, but chose not to. For him to waste so much chakra to teleport that far away from her…

"You have a lot to explain," Tsunade injected, her voice commanding authority. "Why don't you start with how you became the host of the Sanbi?"

Rin did, starting from the Kiri kidnapping to the Kyuubi incident to the masked man's real identity to the Akatsuki's plans to the Uchiha clan massacre to all of her secret meetings with Itachi and Shisui.

"And we're just supposed to buy into that?" one of Onoki's guards questioned. "That sounds like a load of bullshit to me."

"I don't care whether or not you believe me." Sliding off her forehead protector from her head, Rin placed it on the table next to Tsunade. "All that matters is that I am not affiliated with Konoha, so my actions should not sway your judgment. That's all."

And just like Kakashi, Rin flickered out of existence before anyone could say anything else.

Tsunade grabbed the forehead protector off of the table, her finger running over the numerous scratches on the metal, the fraying edges of the cloth, a testament to the number of years of service. Despite its worn condition, the Leaf symbol still shone proudly back at her. Not even a bit of dirt was caked in the engraving, like on her own, many years ago.

"And what is your take on this, Hokage?" Mei questioned.

"I have full faith in her." Perhaps Tsunade was getting sentimental in her old age, first having placed her trust in a certain knuckleheaded blonde boy, and now in her own apprentice.

"You may trust her, Hokage, but we certainly do not," Ay stated. "For a shinobi of her standing to have done all of those things without your knowledge is certainly very concerning. And to hide secrets from the village...and do you really believe that the Uchihas are innocent?"

Quite frankly, Tsunade had never met either of them, so she couldn't say for sure. But she trusted that Rin was telling the truth.

"I don't know the two kids personally, but I trust that Rin told the truth."

Ay opened his mouth to say something, but surprisingly, it was Onoki who cut in this time. "If I may Raikage, I wanted to add my opinion on this subject matter. Long ago, four Konoha Anbu snuck into Iwa territory and were captured by my shinobi. Mind you, this was the era in which Iwa and Konona still held the remnants of bitterness from the outcome of the war.

"The four of them were thrown into Iwa's maximum security prison. My eldest son had been poisoned at the time, stated to be incurable. One day, his symptoms acted up and I made the decision to allow Rin to heal him. I didn't have to give her any explanation; all she saw was a dying man and she saved him.

"At that point, I trusted her to not kill my son and she trusted me to not kill her after my eldest was healed. From that point forward, I trusted Konoha. I believed in her once; I will believe in her again."

"Looks like your emotions are clouding your judgment, Tsuchikage," Ay commented.

Onoki crossed his arms. "If they are, so be it."

"I trust her. She saved my life," was the only explanation that Gaara gave. All three of the Kages' attentions shifted towards Mei and Ay.

"I find it unlikely that she would be working for the Akatsuki if she is one of their targets," Mei added. "It may be true that she could have stopped the Akatsuki from forming in the first place, but we can't change the past. Right now we can only focus on the present, and that is to eliminate Akatsuki."

All of the spotlight shifted to Ay now. He merely grunted.

"I suppose we can trust her."

Tsunade smiled, her fingers curling around Rin's forehead protector.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**So this chapter brought back a lot of stuff that happened super early on in the story that seems like happened forever ago. Here are some reminders if you need them!**

**-Rin was the only one who knew Obito's identity during the Kyuubi attack and never told anyone else, including Kakashi. **

**-Kouichi is Onoki's son, also the one who was poisoned that Rin saved on one of their Anbu missions way back in the day. I think it's around chapter 10? **

**-Zetsu is the only one in the Akatsuki that knows that Obito is dead, meaning Pein still believes their leader is still alive somewhere. **

**As you might have already guessed, the Fourth Great Ninja War that you know from canon won't happen here because Obito is dead. But I guess an alternate version will happen here, although the execution is meh at best. Sorry, I ran out of ideas towards the end and well, hopefully the final arc of the story isn't too horrible. I'll stop here before I spoil anything lol. **

**Next chapter is called The Final Stand.**

**Thanks for reading! Until next time!**


	39. The Final Stand

**Chapter Thirty Eight: The Final Stand **

The entire village was bustling with activity, but few actually knew the reason why. Merchants were ordered by the Hokage to double their orders, with the guarantee that Konoha would buy the entirety of their supply. Weapons were being imported at a larger volume than normal and all shinobis of Konoha were ordered to make sure they were appropriately stocked up. The genins simply bought into their jonin sensei's explanations that they wanted to make sure they were ready for real missions. The chunins were skeptical, but did it nonetheless, thinking it couldn't hurt.

Only the Anbu knew about the impending war in the beginning, but it wasn't long before the jonins began to demand answers. They got them.

The rest of the village was kept in the dark about the situation, to not cause unnecessary panic. After all, it could be tomorrow when the Akatsuki attacked or it could be months later. No one really knew.

Yet with all of the spontaneous lessons that jonin senseis begin to give to their genins on the evacuation procedures in case of a village attack and the many D ranked missions to make sure the evacuation centers were well stocked and fortified for an attack, as well as many of chunins being pulled from regular missions to guard duty, the smarter ones began to piece it together. Still, there was still no verbal confirmation from Tsunade.

In fact, she acted completely normal, when in fact, that couldn't have been further from the truth. On the back end, Tsunade continuously stored extra chakra in her forehead, the excess going towards making healing crystals that Rin invented long ago. They weren't enough to heal any life threatening wounds, but at the very least, non medics would have the ability to stop or lessen their blood loss.

Under Tsunade's guidance, the hospital was well stocked, well trained, and beyond prepared to take on an emergency. Thanks to all of the years that Rin spent developing and leading the medical training program, the hospital was no longer understaffed as it traditionally had been.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, seemed to be perfect. Except the person in question was still missing.

Kakashi was in one of two places: his apartment or the memorial stone. Gai had been the first to approach him with ridiculous requests for challenges in an attempt to cheer his friend up, but had been brutally rejected on seven different occasions. Gai wasn't the type to give up, but he could see that Kakashi wasn't interested, so he tried a different approach: getting someone else to approach him.

After hearing all of the details of what had occurred at the Five Kage Summit, their group began scheming. Most of it had been centered on getting Rin back, while others were to comfort Kakashi. Did the man even need comforting though? He seemed perfectly fine, except for the fact he spent way too many hours glaring at an inanimate object to be considered mentally sound.

Asuma was the next to approach Kakashi. He sympathized with him, relating his own thoughts on feeling betrayed. While he agreed that it hurt, Asuma firmly communicated with him that Rin did what she thought was best for him.

"You spent your life thinking Obito to be a hero," Asuma said. "Rin just didn't want you to bear the burden of knowing who he became in the end."

"Yeah and she let me live fifteen years of my life with a lie."

Asuma didn't say anything further; it was clear from Kakashi's tone of voice that he was still in the angry and bitter phase of his resentment. He quietly retreated.

A week later, they regrouped once more. There was still no news of Rin's whereabouts; there was no tracking her down unless she wanted to be found, so they focused on the more attainable goal: Kakashi.

Kurenai was up next, this time catching Kakashi at Minato and Kushina's graves, silently paying his respects. She patiently waited until he was finished, a good two hours later before he finally opened his lone eye and turned to leave. Kurenai intercepted him at the edge of the graveyard.

Kakashi made no move to sidestep her, like she predicted he would. Instead, he simply shoved his hands in the pocket of his shinobi pants, gazing at something over her head, while he began to murmur something so low that Kurenai was pressed to believe she heard him correctly.

"I regret it."

"You regret it?"

Kakashi solemnly nodded. "I suppose it was hypocritical of me. I spent all of my life keeping things to myself, spent all of my life pushing people away, and really, Rin was the only one who stayed by my side for the most of it. I still wished that Rin would have told me, but-"

"But?" Kurenai prompted.

"I did a lot of thinking and I think if I was in her position, I would have done the exact same thing, so I feel utterly stupid for blaming her."

"What are you going to do now?"

He cocked his head to the side; his lone eye gazing right at Kurenai. "What else? Wait."

When Kurenai reported the details of the conversation back to the group, Izumi was indignant.

"What does he mean 'wait?' He should go and find her. He knows better than anyone else where she possibly could be!"

It was Asuma who placed a hand on Izumi's shoulder, pushing her back down into her seat. Unwilling, Izumi plopped back down in her seat, arms crossed over her chest.

"It's not that simple," Asuma stated. "What will happen if Kakashi leaves the village? Rin is already out of the village. With war looming over our heads, we need all of the manpower that we can get, especially Kakashi."

"What's the difference? There's plenty of other capable jonins in the village to defend the village. And what if he succeeds in bringing Rin back before the attack? That will be even better for us."

"Please, who in the village can put up a fight against the Uchihas?" Asuma questioned. "You? Sasuke? Both of you may have the Sharingan, but you don't know their moves like Kakashi and Rin do."

Izumi frowned. "But there's no guarantee that they'll win either. They didn't kill Sasuke or me the night of the massacre, so maybe-"

"Maybe what?" Asuma asked. "Maybe they'll have mercy on you two a second time? The two of you might be able to do something against Itachi, but there's no way you can outmatch Shisui's speed."

"Fine, fine," Izumi conceded. "But what do we do now? I can't just sit here and do nothing."

"We don't sit here and do nothing," Asuma stated. "We prepare for war."

The following day, Kakashi was rumored to be spotted with Konoha's security team, working with them to ramp up the security around the village. Many of the border patrol members reported spotting a glimpse of silver hair as the man made his way around the entire village, exploiting every single one of its weaknesses with the aid of his Sharingan. By the end of the day, new defenses were put in place, shinobis were reassigned to cover the blind spots, and a more fortified barrier was enacted around the village.

Just as the man had mysteriously appeared, he disappeared just as mysteriously as well, much to the confusion of the security team.

The day after, Tsunade found a lone piece of paper on her desk, detailing all of the potential spots to lure an enemy to in order to lessen the structural damages to Konoha's infrastructure. Additionally, a few more evacuation sites were proposed on the basis that there might not be enough time for everyone to make it to the tunnels behind the stone faces. With that in mind, Tsunade immediately created more D ranked missions to turn these locations into habitable space.

Not too long after, Shizune found Rin's journal on her desk in her office, detailing some of her ideas for other medical creations. Shizune proceeded to spend the rest of the day in the labs, trying to recreate some of her ideas.

There were only so many things that Kakashi could do to keep himself busy while he tried to not think about Rin's absence, since he wasn't about to stoop so low to take on a D ranked mission. He even voluntarily visited his students, actually saw through their entire training session without disappearing in the middle of it, but at that point, Kakashi was well aware that they didn't need his supervision anymore.

Naruto's progress with the Rasenshuriken had long surpassed Kakashi's own. Sasuke's command of lightning nature chakra was already at jonin level and would eventually surpass Kakashi. The only thing that Kakashi had over him was his years of experience. And Sakura? Well, Kakashi didn't have anything he could teach her to begin with.

And thinking about that reminded him all over again exactly who did.

He sighed, turning to go bother the security team, again.

* * *

For someone who was supposed to be the Princess of the Land of Ice, Rin hadn't stepped foot on the Land of Ice since her mother decided to drop her off at Konoha. She had no recollection of the place and imagined it to be just like the Land of Snow, except with ice rather than snow. Piecing together her own imagination and Ichika's account, Rin could only picture the place to be a huge patch of ice, but barren for kilometers to see. Cold, slippery, with barely any of the sun rays to touch the ice. The ones that did, emitted a glare, uncomfortable to anyone's eyes.

Her assumption was partially correct. There was ice everywhere, yet she hadn't anticipated the massive mountain that was made of ice. She hadn't anticipated that someone had carved into it, creating a route for the icy water to run through. She hadn't anticipated that at the foot of the mountain, there would be a small town, directly where the water went to.

The cold temperature was there. The ice was somewhat slippery, but that wasn't anything she couldn't combat with a little help from chakra. The glare against the ice from the sun was annoying for sure, but it wasn't barren.

There was life.

Even before Rin entered the town, she could hear the laughter and chatter coming from the village. When she stepped foot into the town, the first thing that she noticed was how vibrant the people were, compared to the civilians at the Land of Snow.

Despite being an outsider, she was greeted by everyone she passed. Children ran up to her without fear, often brushing past her in their carelessness and haste; parents following to apologize on their behalf. The market was bustling with activity, shouts advertising the freshly caught fish from the mountains and greenhouse grown vegetables filled the air.

One particular stand caught her eye, the trinkets stand, where it sold all sorts of jewelry, containing styles from all over the world. Yet there it was, the speciality of the Land of Ice. The Ice Crystal.

The merchant noticed her interest in the Ice Crystal and began to babble off the history of the piece, the same story that Rin had heard before.

"The Ice Crystal is a symbol of fate and hope."

"Fate and hope?" Rin repeated.

The merchant nodded. "Fate because the Ice Crystal was what reunited a former Land of Ice citizen with the Princess. Hope because the Princess was the one who gave Ichika san a second chance at life, which in turn gave this entire village a second chance to flourish."

Ichika...that was a name Rin hadn't heard in a while.

"A second chance? So did you live in the Land of Ice prior to the invasion?"

The merchant nodded her head vigorously. "The King and Queen fought valiantly for the sake of our land, but unfortunately, they were killed. However, they bought enough time for a small group of us to escape. We have been hiding in a small neighboring village until Ichika came and found us again. Since then, we've rebuilt the village once more."

"So everyone here was a refuge?"

The merchant laughed merrily. "No, no. Many of the people that you see here settled down because they liked the environment better than their homeland. There's not many of us that lived through the invasion, but...there's a new generation that has adopted this place as home. For me, that's enough. I'm sure that's what the King and Queen would have wanted to see."

"If the King and Queen are dead...then who is the leader of this village now?"

"Well, we don't really have a leader. Our village is made up of an elected council who serve as representatives for the people of the village. I suppose Ichika is held in higher regard for being one of the founders of the village. Oh and the Princess as well! She may not be here, but without her, this village wouldn't have existed!"

"Ah, I see."

"The Ice Crystal is a momento from the King to the Princess," the merchant continued to prattle on. "Would you like to buy one?"

Rin smiled politely, refraining from mentioning that she had the original one tucked underneath her shirt. Thanking the merchant for her time, Rin moved on from the stand, now with the goal of finding Ichika in her mind.

It had been a long time since she had last seen the older woman; it was time to pay her a visit.

It turned out that Ichika wasn't that hard to find. It seemed that everyone knew where Ichika was, just asking two random strangers on the street and both of them directed her in the direction of the greenhouse.

And there she was, just like the strangers said she would be.

Ichika looked older than Rin remembered, with wrinkles around her eyes, but her eyes were shining brighter than ever. Ichika seemed to don a smile constantly as she hummed to herself while watering the plants in the greenhouse.

Ichika's eyes lit up when she spotted her by the entrance. "Rin? Is that you?"

"Hai," Rin whispered softly, tears pricking the corner of her eye as Ichika went in for a hug, wrapping her arms around her tightly. Rin returned her embrace, holding onto her tightly and began to cry. Perhaps it was a combination of stress, joy from seeing Ichika again, and maybe just the entire situation in general, but Rin couldn't contain herself.

Ichika's motherly instincts kicked in and she began rubbing Rin's back soothingly.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything."

Her response incited Ichika to demand her to start from the beginning and so Rin did. She began from the very beginning, starting from her days on Team Minato, then progressively worked her way through the events one by one. The entire ordeal took the rest of the daylight hours and well into the night, and both of them had been so caught up that they had forgotten dinner.

Rin wasn't sure what time it was when she finally finished recounting the events of the Five Kage Summit. Secretly, she was counting on Ichika to give her advice, just like she had done over a decade ago.

Ichika delivered.

"You know, I think Kakashi san's reaction is completely normal, considering your relationship. Since the two of you tell each other everything, I think it just came as a big shock to him that you never told him about it."

"I know," Rin told her. "I just know how much Kakashi looks up to Obito's ideology, even to the extent of preaching the importance of teammates to his own team. I didn't want to break that image of Obito in his head."

"Perhaps Kakashi san isn't angry at you for keeping the secret from him," Ichika proposed. "But rather, he's angry that you decided to shoulder the burden alone. Maybe he wanted to share that burden with you. And he knows that you have been hurting over the revelation and just wanted to have been there to support you, in some way."

"Maybe."

"But really, I think we know by now that Kakashi san is a bit slow when it comes to dealing with his emotions. Based on what you told me, he eventually came around and confessed to you, did he not? All he needs is a bit of time. He's a rational and smart man; he'll eventually come to his senses and realize that he overreacted."

"But I don't want him to feel guilty. I mean, it is my fault…"

Ichika laughed. "Ah, the classic 'my fault, not yours' argument. To be frank, both of you are at fault, but the two of you are rational adults and I believe that you can get over this minor argument with little trouble. Speaking of, I'm surprised this is the only major quarrel you've gotten into since."

"Are we supposed to fight more often?" Rin questioned innocently.

"No, no," Ichika said. "It's just this is your first, so I understand that you might feel hesitant and scared to face Kakashi san. But really, you're one of the most badass shinobis of your generation...you can handle a little confrontation. If it helps, you can treat him as one of those interns at the hospital that annoys you."

Rin failed to see how that would help. "I don't want to yell at him though."

"No you don't," Ichika agreed. "Just talk to him. If he's not ready to talk, then give him a bit more time. He's slow with emotions, remember that. But you? You have patience."

"You're right, but how long do you think it will take?"

Ichika shrugged. "You're the one who knows him the best. If you don't know the answer, no one else will."

Too bad Rin didn't really have an answer. She didn't want to go back to Konoha, to potentially have to deal with the awkward confrontations and silences. And there was the problem of her supposed allegiance with the Akatsuki.

"Can I stay here?"

"Why?" Ichika looked confused. "You should go back to your village. If a war is happening, then your village needs you."

"They think I'm a traitor."

Ichika scoffed. "The Kages are not stupid. Even I, a non shinobi, can think of at least five reasons to disprove why you would be working with that group. Besides, I'm almost certain that your Kage believes in you."

"What makes you think that?"

"The Leaf is often very trusting," Ichika explained. "When I was in Konoha, no one questioned my loyalty. While others may call it naive, I believe Konoha's faith isn't misguided. Your Kage will believe in you. She has known you since you were a child and if you weren't trustworthy, would you have served so closely to three of your Kages?"

"I-"

"No, no, no. Erase all of those doubts from your mind, okay? Your village needs you. Your place isn't here; it's in Konoha. You can come back and tell me I'm right after the threat is over, alright?"

Well, Rin supposed she didn't really have a choice when Ichika put it like that.

"Thank you."

* * *

As Rin neared Konoha, the first sign of trouble was the tendril of gray smoke in the air, visible even from this distance. The second sign of trouble was the multiple foreign chakras that she felt in the village, along with more heading towards Konoha. The third sign of trouble was the multiple flares of chakra from Konoha shinobis as they undoubtedly engaged in a fight with the enemy.

Rin pushed herself to run even faster, mentally praying that everyone was okay. Logically, as a medic, her place was at the hospital, but Rin couldn't help but run in the direction of the closest foreign chakra.

They needed her in the fight.

She wanted to save their lives on the field, not in the hospital.

She found herself face to face with a lavender haired woman. Her amber eyes stared blankly at Rin as the paper continued to tighten around the Konoha shinobi. Life was squeezed out of him, the shinobi slumping lifelessly to the ground as the paper fluttered into the air and regathered to form the woman's lower half of the body.

"Ah, the Sanbi," the woman murmured. "If you willingly surrender yourself, there will be no need for such needless deaths."

"No."

"No?" she repeated. "Then I suppose you leave me with no choice."

"There won't be any more deaths because I'll kill you first."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Sorry for the cliffhanger. To make up for it, I'm thinking about double posting the last 6? chapters of the story so we can finally be done with this story. That's assuming that I finish writing the last 2 chapters by next week; I went back to look at it and realize that it's just been sitting there untouched for 4 months. Whoops, my bad haha. It has been roughly 8 months since I started posting this story and at this point, I don't want to drag it out any further and I'm sure that all of you are tired of waiting. **

**And judging from the silence, I'm assuming that quite a number of people has gotten bored with this story. Myself included but I am finishing this story for the rest of you who stuck around because if you made it this far, you deserve an ending. Plus, I'm determined to keep my track record for only having finished stories on this site lol. **

**So moving forward, no more insanely long A/N from me because we are going to speed through the final arc. I'll address any comments/questions in the final chapter of this story so be prepared for an insanely long A/N then. **

**If you want, please join me at my other two ongoing stories. One is called In the Name of War, which is going to be a full length story featuring mostly the same characters as this story, but swap Shisui out with Obito. It's an AU story where Konoha was never founded and the Senjus and Uchihas each respectively erected their own villages. Currently, they are embroiled in war (because they can never stop fighting haha) and well, Kakashi is working as a double agent, Obito is not evil, and Rin is a medic. That's all I'll say for that haha. :) **

**The other is called A Flicker in Time**, **which I just started posting. It's a time traveling story centered around Team Minato (sans Rin whoops haha - had to leave her out of this one because she already got too much screentime in this story and the other one) because I'm obsessed with time traveling and I'm obsessed with writing about Team Minato. Enough of a reason, right? It's a short story that I'm just writing for fun, so it won't be too long because I don't have enough plot ideas to stretch it into a full length novel. Maybe one day I will think about writing a full on time travel story, but time travel plotlines is one of the hardest things to write in my opinion so it's going to be a huge maybe. **

**Ah this is getting long, so let me end this here. Friend or Foe, Reunion, Will of Fire are the titles of the next 3 chapters if you want to use it to take any guesses although they are quite vague haha. Thank you for reading and until next time!**

**-MM**


	40. Friend or Foe?

**Chapter Thirty Nine: Friend or Foe? **

Thanks to Kakashi's improvement to the detection barrier erected around the village, the sensor team was able to detect a single foreign presence the moment the person passed through the barrier. Yet when the sensor team reported its findings to the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade received mixed accounts.

One from the sensor team stating that there was a lone intruder and the second from a frightened genin who had burst into her office, mumbling something about being here under his sensei's orders and wasting her precious time until Tsunade snapped at him to get to the point. He did: there were six foreign shinobis in the village, each with vibrant orange hair, multiple piercing and purple eyes.

Not too long thereafter, Tsunade received another missive from the sensor team that four more presences entered Konoha, two of the unfamiliar and the other two...very much familiar.

The village erupted into chaos. No amount of training on the evacuation routes could prepare the genins for what to do in actual battle, not when multiple enemy summons surrounded them.

The civilians, on the other hand, were running towards the evacuation shelters as fast as their feet could carry them, clutching whatever they managed to grab in their haste tightly in their arms. Some of the chunins had taken up to direct the civilians towards the centers, some clearing the way for them. Along the way, some of the chunins picked up a stray genin or two, ordering them to join the group of evacuees.

Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi had been among those genins. The snot in Udon's nose dribbled down his face continuously, no matter how much he tried to wipe it away, it wouldn't stop coming. Moegi flinched each time there was a loud crash or movement that shook the entire village. While Konohamaru put on an air of bravery, deep down inside, he was quivering. Glancing over at his two terrified teammates, Konohamaru briefly resolved that would be brave for them.

That resolve fizzled out the moment a huge centipede landed on top of the building next to them, reducing it into a pile of rubble with that one move. Moegi let out a terrified screech, Udon tugged on Konohamaru's blue scarf for comfort, while the entirety of Konohamaru's body froze. His brain was screaming at him to move as the centipede reached out to swing its upper half of its torso towards them, but his muscles locked into place, his limbs were frozen stiff.

His brown eyes widened as one of the chunins that had been escorting them to the shelters body slammed into him, sending him careening out of the trajectory of the centipede's arc, while the chunin was left at the mercy of the centipede. Propping himself up by the elbow, Konohamaru couldn't help but watch the entire scene play out in front of him, in slow motion. The way that the centipede's head touched the area where he had been moments, the way that the chunin's body was sent flying into the air upon impact. The way his savior's body slammed into one of the nearby buildings, before gravity took over, his body tumbling down to the ground.

Even from this distance, Konohamaru could tell the chunin's neck was bent at such an odd angle.

Besides him, Udon was furiously tugging on Konohamaru's scarf, yet due to his lack of strength, failed to get Konohamaru to actually move. On his other side, Moegi was screaming at him to move, shaking his shoulder violently.

It was only when Konohamaru spotted a familiar streak of black hair passing by did he finally snap out of it. Scrambling to his feet in record time, Konohamaru made it just in time to avoid the centipede's head, which had been cleanly sliced off by his uncle. The head landed on the ground with an audible thump, rolling one time before it stilled to a halt.

Two kunais struck both of its eyes, before Asuma landed on the ground, in front of his nephew and his genin team.

"You know what you need to do," Asuma told him.

Konohamaru nodded, with a renewed fire in his eyes. There wasn't much he could do, as much as he didn't want to admit it, but all of the genins in the village had been trained to gather all of the civilians to the evacuation centers. Such a simple mission, yet it was the most important one.

To protect the future of the village.

With one last reassuring glance, Asuma leapt away, taking off towards the rooftops. Konohamaru turned towards his teammates, tugging them along by the arm as he marched confidently through the burning streets.

Udon and Moegi had been hesitant and scared at first, but after seeing Konohamaru stop in many stores and coax some of the terrified civilians out of hiding, the other two began to do the same. Hardly one street later, they had gathered a handful of stragglers, including an elderly woman who was unable to walk and a toddler who had lost her parents in the crossfire. Moegi held on to the toddler's hand while they headed towards the evacuation center, while Udon helped to aid the elderly woman. Konohamaru took up the lead, shouting words of encouragement to the civilians.

The group shuffled along at such an agonizingly slow pace, in Moegi's opinion. Yet, she had to remind herself that these were civilians, not shinobis like they were. However, every moment spent out in the open, meant another moment that they could potentially be attacked. Her worries prompted her to look over her shoulder every five seconds, to the point where the toddler began to mimic her actions as well.

Moegi supposed that she should have been relieved when she saw Iruka sensei running up to join them, with a couple of civilians in tow. Iruka sensei was a chunin and would do much better at protecting them in case a fight broke out, yet Moegi had seen how easily the other chunin had gone down.

Could anyone in the village even defeat the enemy?

Moegi clutched the girl's hand tighter as the group continued to trudge forward.

A chill went down Konohamaru's spine as they passed the Academy building. Even with Iruka sensei's presence, Konohamaru still felt uneasy, still felt the eerie nagging feeling at the back of his mind.

His instincts were proven correct a moment later when Iruka suddenly latched onto his arm, pulling him aside just as one of the enemy shinobis landed where he had been moments before. The civilians were startled, backing away in fear. Konohamaru had half a mind to join them, but the image of the chunin's bravery flashed through his mind once more. He stood his ground.

However one look at the woman's purple eyes, Konohamaru was left paralyzed once more. His ears vaguely registered Iruka sensei ordering them to retreat with the civilians, but Konohamaru couldn't move. All he could register was the hand seals that the orange haired woman made, before she slammed her palms into the ground.

A three headed dog appeared before them, each head donning the same piercings that the woman had, as well as her eyes. Iruka grabbed Konohamaru, pulling him along as he jumped backwards as the paws of the three headed dog slammed into the ground.

The two of them stumbled as they landed.

"You need to go. You're no match for her," Iruka sensei said, with a grim expression on his face. Normally, Konohamaru wouldn't have hesitated, wouldn't have questioned Iruka sensei's orders, but there was absolutely nothing normal about the situation at hand.

"You're not either," Konohamaru protested, as Iruka's grip on his arm tightened. "You'll die if you stay behind!"

"At least I can buy you guys some time to get away."

Those words were spoken just like a true shinobi, but Konohamaru didn't want to accept it. He didn't want to envision a world where another person died to protect him.

No, this time he was going to fight.

"We'll fight together," Konohamaru retorted stubbornly. Without waiting for a response, Konohamaru wrestled his arm out of Iruka's grip, reached into his weapons pouch to grab for two kunais with explosive tags attached at the handle and launched it with the same level of accuracy as he had honed at the Academy.

The three headed dog titled the head closest to the left, easily dodging the kunais. An explosion went off in the distance. Konohamaru grimaced, hoping that no had been harmed, yet there wasn't much time for him to linger on his thoughts as he and Iruka dove in opposite directions as the three headed dog slammed its paw down on the ground once again.

Konohamaru jumped onto a nearby building, using chakra to keep him attached to the side as he began to scale it. While his legs carried up along the length of the building, his mind was racing with strategies.

From watching his uncle earlier, it was clear to him that the eyes were dangerous. Yet there was no way for him to blind the creature from a distance; his kunais would be too easy to dodge or deflect. Unless…

With a half assed plan in mind, Konohamaru made it to the top of the building. Below him, Iruka danced around the three headed dogs, constantly keeping them out of reach, yet remained close enough to goad them into following him.

"Alright, let's do this," Konohamaru whispered under his breath as his fingers moved to form a cross. Just as a clone poofed into existence besides him, a gust of wind almost sent Konohamaru toppling off of his feet. The sharp beak of the bird rammed into his clone, dispelling it seconds after its formation.

The bird flew upwards in an arc, now heading to destroy his real body next. Scrambling to his feet, Konohamaru ducked out of the way, sending the momentum of the bird sending it whizzing past him.

For a second time, Konohmaru formed a clone. Nodding to the clone, the clone lifted Konohamaru, latching onto him by the feet and began to swing him in a wide arc. The bird summon was heading for the duo once more. His clone let go, sending Konohamaru flying through the air, in the direction of the three headed dog, seconds before the bird's beak rammed into his clone.

While in the air, Konohamaru reached into his weapons pouch, pulling out two kunais, ninja wire, and a handful of explosive tags. Just like he planned, Konohamaru was sent hurling into the middle head, where Konohamaru immediately rammed the kunai into its eye. However, he hadn't planned for the other two heads to react so quickly, jaws snapping at him.

Dropping the explosive tags on the middle head, Konohamaru scrambled down the neck of the three headed dog, tossing the kunai a good ways away. Latching onto the ninja wire attached, Konohamaru hopped off of the creature, his body tumbling to the ground. Konohamaru rolled on the dirt twice more before he felt an explosion rattle his nearby surroundings.

Tucking his head beneath his arms, Konohamaru curled up into a ball as he felt pieces of rubble fall on top of him.

When the rattling stopped, Konohamaru gathered the courage to sit upright to gauge the damage. Through the thick brown smoke, he was unable to see anything, but a telltale caw from a bird alerted him of the impending danger. He pushed himself off of the ground, his body swaying, his feet unable to steady themselves.

By the time Konohamaru had finally gathered his bearings, he saw the familiar yellow beak, heading straight for him, at an alarming speed. Running high off of adrenaline and sheer willpower, he got his body to move, to throw himself out of the trajectory of the bird.

The bird summon never reached him.

A fireball appeared out of nowhere, hitting the bird summon right in its side. The bird let out a horrendous screech, flapping its burning wing as the body hit the ground with a loud thump. The scorching heat from the jutsu was so intense that Konohamaru could feel the heat, even from this distance.

The fire continued to blaze on until the summon finally poofed out of existence. The smoke finally cleared, and for the first time, Konohamaru could see Iruka sensei half running and half limping towards him.

The three headed dog was nowhere to be seen.

The orange haired woman leapt down from the carnage, irritation written all over her apathetic face as her hands moved to form the familiar sequence of the summoning jutsu once more. Before her hands could slam down on the ground, three kunais whizzed out from the side and would have made their mark, embedded into her hands if the woman hadn't dodged in time.

Konohamaru let out a cough. "Was that fire jutsu yours?"

Iruka sensei looked puzzled. "Fire jutsu?"

Konohamaru got his answers moments later when he saw a figure leap down from the rooftops, landing gracefully on his feet. The Uchiha crest was displayed proudly on his backside and for a moment, Konohamaru thought it was Sasuke. Yet the hair was too unruly to be Sasuke and there was a sword holster strapped to his back.

Konohamaru had seen Sasuke enough times to know that he carried his sword by his side.

"That's-" Iruka's words died on his lips as the Uchiha drew his sword, pointing it at the orange haired woman.

"Is summoning your only trick?" the Uchiha questioned, taking a step forward. The orange haired woman showed no outward reaction.

"A traitor after all," the woman murmured. "Then I suppose the other is too."

The Uchiha merely shrugged. "Can't say we were ever loyal in the first place."

"Should have known better to believe that you would have attacked your home. A miscalculation, but even without the two of you, we will succeed in our goal."

Konohamaru wished he studied more at the Academy. If memory served him correctly, the Uchiha clan had been wiped out almost a decade ago and Sasuke was regarded to be the last living Uchiha. So why was there another Uchiha claiming to be on their side?

What was going on?

"Will you? Two of your six bodies have already been destroyed."

Konohamaru's eyes widened as he watched the Uchiha move at lightning speed, sword slashing through the orange haired woman's body before she even had the chance to react. Her body slumped to the ground. The Uchiha performed another fire jutsu, setting her entire body on fire before he turned around to face them for the first time.

"Shisui Uchiha," Iruka said, in a tone with a mixture of awe and surprise.

Shisui Uchiha? That name sounded so familiar in Konohamaru's mind, he just couldn't pinpoint where he had heard the name before.

Shisui...one of the two murderers of the Uchiha clan. Upon that revelation, Konohamaru let out an audible gasp, scrambling backwards as if more distance would have made a difference. Judging from the man's previous show of speed, Konohamaru still would be dead in a second if Shisui really wanted to kill him.

"You should head to the west side. There's still a lot of civilians there."

Konohamaru nodded numbly, taking the order in stride as if Shisui was one of his superiors. It was only when Iruka asked why, did Konohamaru remember that Shisui was an enemy.

Or was he an ally? After all, he did save them.

Konohamaru was so confused.

Shisui's lips curled up into an amused smile. "A lot of things have happened and it's a long story. If you really want to know, perhaps you can ask your superior after this is all over."

And just as quickly as the man came, the man disappeared.

It had taken Iruka an entire minute to gather his bearings. Pushing himself to his feet, Iruka brushed the dirt off of his shinobi pants before he grabbed Konohamaru's arm, pulling the younger boy to his feet as well.

"We should head to the west side," Iruka stated, but his words lacked conviction.

"Can we trust him?" Konohamaru questioned as he followed his sensei's brisk pace.

Iruka sighed. "I don't know."

"What if it's a trap to lure us to the west side?"

"If he really wanted us dead, he doesn't need to go through all of that effort. He could have killed us in two seconds."

Konohamaru nodded, the reasoning was logical.

"Ne, sensei. Have you ever seen him in battle? You know, before…"

Before his defection, Konohamaru wanted to say, but he wisely let the words trail off. All of the adults like to make the Uchiha clan massacre a taboo subject, so Konohamaru wasn't too sure it had been entirely wise to bring up the subject in the first place.

But his curiosity…

"I wasn't as close to them as some of the others, but I saw him fight once. It was during the Kyuubi attack. His team, along with the Yondaime, saved the village."

Konohamaru's eyes widened considerably at the knowledge. "So he must be super strong then?"

Iruka absently nodded. "I'm not sure if you know this, but he was part of one of Konoha's most legendary teams."

"Like the Sannin?"

"Yes, except even Tsunade sama isn't a match for his speed or genjutsu prowess. In fact, the only people that could beat him are the other members of his team."

"Who were the other members?"

Konohamaru had been so close to getting his answer. He saw the way that his sensei's mouth opened, ready to spill the names, and if it hadn't been for the fact that Iruka's eyes honed in on an injured civilian trapped under the rubble, Konohamaru would have gotten it.

But no matter. Saving lives was first. Satisfying his curiosity would have to wait.

* * *

Wounded shinobi and civilians poured into the hospital one after another. In just under half an hour since the attack on Konoha began, all of the rooms in the hospital were full. Even fitting four to five people in one hospital room, there was no more space. The only available rooms left were the operating rooms, which Shizune hadn't left since the beginning of the attack.

Maki was in charge of the hospital interns and entry level staff. When one of her interns ran up to her, informing her that all of the rooms were occupied, Maki was at a loss for what to do. The hospital protocol for emergencies hadn't said anything about what to do when all of the rooms were full, namely because the last time there had been an emergency, it had been sixteen years ago.

And sixteen years ago, their problem had been trying to be organized. This time they were organized, with the less experienced medics and civilian doctors fixing minor wounds, while the more experienced, like Shizune, took care of the grave wounds.

Normally, Maki would have deferred to Shizune for orders, but she knew better than to disturb her in the middle of an operation.

Maki caught a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye and immediately went to intercept Sakura. Her sudden appearance had taken the girl off guard, judging from the way Sakura slightly flinched upon registering her presence, but Sakura immediately straightened up. As they walked to Sakura's office, Maki filled her in on everything.

"I see," Sakura said. "Gather everyone who's in charge of placement. Meet me in the lobby in five."

Maki nodded, glad that there was someone taking charge now. As instructed, all of the entry level staff and interns were gathered in the lobby by the time Sakura emerged, donning her medical coat, plastic gloves, and her hair tied back.

"You, you, and you," Sakura began, pointing at each person. "Go to the supply closet and retrieve the mats. Start setting them up in the lobby, row by row, as many as you can, but leave a path so that we can still walk."

The three of them nodded, heading off towards the supply closet while Sakura turned towards the rest of them.

"Once the three of them get those mats set, I want you to move the less injured from the rooms to the lobby. For anyone that is brought in, I want you to tag them based on their level of injuries: red for immediate treatment, yellow for heavy injuries that can wait a bit, and green for the least injured. Got that?"

At the chorus of head nods, Sakura continued. "Put all of the green patients on the right side of the lobby and the yellow ones on the left side. All red patients should be in the hospital rooms. Once you are done with that, I want some of you to help with the healing."

By the time Sakura finished giving orders, the other three had returned and began placing the mats on the floor. One of them went to join the three, to help them in the process, while explaining all of Sakura's instructions. Half of them broke off towards the hospital rooms, ready to move them out to the lobby. The other half stayed, approaching the people that had been left in the lobby and began to assess their conditions.

Satisfied with their performance, Sakura headed off towards one of the hospital rooms and began to heal a man who had his left calf entirely crushed by rubble.

While some genins had been recruited for helping with the evacuation process, others had ended up in the hospital and been put to work as runners. Most of them ended up grabbing supplies for the medics, often running to the supply rooms to refill on the constantly diminishing stock of medical supplies. Others had been among the group, who were now aiding the injured to their respective spots on the mats in the lobby, tagging them based on their degree of severity.

A selected few were given a stash of healing crystals and went around using them, to at least stop the bleeding while they were waiting for an actual medic to be able to heal them. At first, they had been in awe of the medical invention, but soon understood the importance of the healing crystals.

There were only a limited amount, unlike the enormous amounts of other medical supplies that the hospital had stocked up on prior to the attack, so the genins were instructed to use them sparingly.

_Only for the heavily injured, _Shizune had instructed before she disappeared into the operating room.

Even though they were no longer short staffed and even at their full force, the medics still felt overwhelmed. There was a never ending amount of injured pouring into the hospital.

It wasn't long before the lobby became full as well.

All around her, Maki could hear the moans and grunts of pain as the injured laid on the floor, clutching at their wounds. Medics went down the rows, healing two people at a time, one with each hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Maki watched as a fellow medic reached into her pouch to pull out a food pill.

The constant healing drained all of their chakras, yet everyone was determined to keep going, to keep fighting for Konoha no matter the cost. With the newfound determination in mind, Maki poured all of her focus on the patient in front of her.

Though the injured continued to pour in, some of the shinobis were healed enough to leave, to rejoin the fight. Seeing the few of them do so was more than enough motivation for all of the medics to continue to push through.

In one of the hospital rooms, Sakura was standing between two beds, one hand on each patient, glowing green. Even though the majority of her focus was on healing, her senses were screaming at her, alerting her of a foreign presence.

That was confirmed when she felt a cold hand wrap around her ankle. Without hesitation, Sakura sent chakra down to her ankle, before she used all of her force to jerk her foot away from that spot. That had been enough force to rip the arm off, sending the arm hurtling at the wall.

The gooey material left its stain on the wall before gravity took over and sent it plumenting to the ground. A glance at the ground and there was no one in sight anymore. Sakura quickly finished healing her patients, pulling them out of the danger zone.

Just as Sakura left the room, ready to head to the next, she heard a scream, which was followed by more screams. Running at a breathtaking pace to the lobby, Sakura was greeted with the sight of multiple men with green hair and a completely white body holding kunais to the medics or patients' backs. A sinister grin formed on one's face before he plunged the kunai into the stomach of an injured civilian.

That infuriated Sakura. Grabbing the nearest white man, Sakura sent a chakra ladled punch straight into its face, then proceeded to pick up the body and fling it in the direction of another one of the white men. The body slammed into the white man, sending him careening towards the floor with a thump. Sakura continued to move, going after the white men one by one, but they had gotten smarter.

Some of them even had the audacity to taunt her to come to them, but disappeared down into the ground before she could reach them.

Sakura felt a hand wrap around her upper arm and had been ready to swing at the person, until she heard a familiar voice speak.

"Picking fights with them one by one won't do any good."

Sakura turned her head sharply to face Shikamaru, who had his left arm wrapped in a sling. Her green eyes clashed with his brown ones.

"Then what do you suggest? I can't just let them go around and kill my patients!"

"They're not going to kill your patients."

Sakura was in utter disbelief. "What do you mean? I saw them kill one, right before my eyes!"

While Sakura continued to get worked up as the conversation continued to progress, Shikamaru remained the epitome of calm.

"They didn't harm anyone until you came," Shikamaru told her. "Don't you see what they're trying to do? They want to cause chaos; they want you to lose focus and right now, you're letting them win."

"Then what should I do? Ignore them?"

"You go heal," Shikamaru told her, pushing her lightly in the direction of the operating rooms. "Leave the rest of it up to me."

Sakura stared at Shikamaru for at least fifteen seconds; it was fifteen seconds of uncomfortableness on Shikamaru's part, before she finally nodded and took off towards the operating rooms.

Shikamaru smirked as he watched one of the white men emerge out of the ground and disappear back into it when one of the injured shinobis tossed a kunai at him. As promised, he would take care of them, and he had just the right thing for it. Rummaging through his weapons pouch with his non-injured hand, Shikamaru retrieved a stack of seals.

Getting one of the genin's attention, the eager genin bounded over; curious eyes roving over the seals. Shikamaru handed some to the genin.

"Take these and stick them on the floors and walls, got it?"

The genin nodded, bounding off to do his bidding without even asking why, much to Shikamaru's relief. It would have been entirely too troublesome to explain what these seals did...the genin would see for himself very soon.

Shikamaru resigned himself to placing the seals around the lobby, while the white men continued to pop in and out of existence. Once Shikamaru had covered every inch of the lobby, he plopped down, cross legged on one of the mats and waited.

Sure enough, one of the white men began rising from the ground, but before his entire head even emerged, a crackle of lightning appeared, electrocuting the white man.

Everywhere the white man tried to escape from the underground, they were all met with the same fate. After five minutes had passed, the hospital room was not only filled with the injured, but littered with the white man's dead bodies. Shikamaru ordered the genin to haul the bodies outside, to dump them in an alley somewhere. The genins had been less than excited at the prospect of hauling dead bodies outside, but one glare got them moving.

One problem solved.

Shikamaru didn't really want to know why Kakashi sensei casually happened to have a stack of seals specifically for this purpose. Shikamaru certainly didn't want to know why Kakashi sensei had given it to him, catching him on his way to the hospital, almost like he knew Shikamaru would need it. And kami forbid if Shikamaru had been on the other end of the jutsu...a shiver went down his spine just at the thought of it.

It was just too troublesome for him to think of why Kakashi sensei would know the seals would come in handy. Too troublesome...so Shikamaru opted to not think about it at all.

Shaking those thoughts of his mind, Shikamaru pushed himself onto his feet and clambered back into the wreckage.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! See you Friday. **

**-MM**


	41. Reunion

**Chapter Forty: Reunion **

To an outsider, Sasuke Uchiha was in a grumpy mood 24/7, but Team 7 knew how to tell the difference between his moods. Most days, he simply put on an air of grumpiness just for the sake of it, and to deter some annoying fangirls in the process. Yet today, Sasuke Uchiha was actually grumpy.

It all started with the attack. Like any other chunin, Sasuke had jumped into the fray, taking on two of the Peins at the same time, saving some poor genin the fate of getting their souls sucked out of them. And despite engaging in a battle with some unknown shinobis, Sasuke held his own, staying out of the reach of the soul sucker, while the other stood back to observe.

It hadn't taken Sasuke long to figure out that their visions were linked, as evident when Sasuke attempted to decimate the soul sucker with a Chidori aimed at the back of his head. Yet the soul sucker dodged with such ease and it was only when red eyes clashed with purple did Sasuke finally understand what was going on.

With the new knowledge tucked away in his mind, Sasuke's brain began to form all sorts of strategies. Except all of that work had been for naught as Naruto jumped down from a nearby rooftop, slamming his Rasengan into the back of the other Pein's head while Sasuke kept the soul sucker busy in a taijutsu exchange.

As if Naruto destroying all of his carefully crafted plans wasn't enough, the way that Naruto had to gloat about being able to take down one of the enemies grated on Sasuke's nerves. As if Naruto's kill hadn't been because Sasuke kept the soul sucker busy; otherwise, Naruto's attack would most certainly have been met with air.

To top it all off, Naruto joined him in battle against the soul sucker, as if Sasuke needed Naruto's help. Outwardly, Sasuke scoffed, but said nothing about the blonde boy's aid. After all, they were under attack. The faster they got rid of the enemy, the quicker they could move on to other enemies.

Naruto yammered on about the intelligence that he had received about the enemy and ordered Sasuke to burn the bodies, after revealing one of them had the power to revive a dead body. Despite being annoyed at having to receive orders from Naruto of all the people, Sasuke did as he was asked. Two fire jutsus left both of the bodies burning, reducing them to nothing more than ashes.

"It's not just the Peins that have infiltrated the village. The other members of the Akatsuki have as well." Naruto didn't need to say much more; Sasuke understood what he was trying to tell him.

"What? Konoha needs me to fight against them because I have the Sharingan?" If that was the case, then Sasuke would gladly do it. After all, what better way to get revenge for his family than under the guise of protecting the village?

"No, Tsunade baa chan wants you to steer clear of them," Naruto said, shaking his head. "You aren't a match for them."

"I'm not a match?" Sasuke hissed, his level of annoyance increasing tenfold. "If I am not a match for them, then tell me who the hell in the village is?"

He and Izumi were the last two Sharingan users, aside from Kakashi, who were loyal to the village. Kakashi's abysmal chakra levels would get him killed in a drawn out Sharingan battle, even though Sasuke admitted that his sensei's control over his Sharingan was insane, almost like he was a true Uchiha. And although Izumi was the one who taught Sasuke everything about the Sharingan, both of them knew that Sasuke was the stronger Sharingan user between the two.

It was in his bloodline after all, being a child of the main branch, while her bloodline had been diluted because her mother had married a non-Uchiha.

Naruto didn't bother to give Sasuke a response. Instead, he merely shrugged his shoulders, eyes fixed on something in the distance. Abruptly, Naruto muttered an incomprehensible string of words, before darting off in the direction where the dark smoke was growing thicker.

Sasuke opted not to follow. Instead, he headed towards the east side, the exact opposite of where Naruto was headed.

Although Sasuke would never admit it out loud, he trusted that Naruto could handle whatever was happening on the west side.

He didn't have much time to be lost in his thoughts. Along the way, Sasuke helped a couple of stragglers, freeing them of the rubble and pointing them in the direction of the evacuation center and the hospital. If it had been Naruto, he most certainly would have offered to walk them to their destinations or at least sent a clone with them, but Sasuke deemed that too be too trivial to waste his time on.

Especially since his skills were more useful in battle.

And he was proven correct a few moments later when he felt a familiar chakra spike in the distance. Pushing chakra to the soles of his feet, Sasuke began running at top speed, arriving at the battlefield in less than a minute.

Just in time to see the enemy summon a large shark bomb, the gravity sending it crashing towards Izumi. Gritting her teeth, Izumi abandoned the sequence of seals that she had been forming and instead dove out of the way.

The shark bomb crashed into the ground, forming a pool of water around them. The shark man smirked, hands flying through another sequence of seals. Sasuke's Sharingan spun, recognizing it as a water jutsu.

Out of nowhere, a huge wave of water appeared behind the shark man. Just like his previous jutsu, the large amount of water crashed into the ground, forming a large body of water around them, deep enough for his entire body to be submerged under if he didn't have chakra to aid him.

Sasuke decided that he had enough of watching the battle. He jumped into the battle, landing swiftly besides Izumi, who didn't seem a bit startled by his sudden appearance. On the contrary, the shark man was surprised and amused.

"Oh, another one? You know, when I heard about the Uchiha massacre, I was under the impression that everyone died. Imagine my surprise...a fourth Uchiha."

Sasuke tried to not let the shark man's words get to him. All three of them knew that he was just goading him, but years of being on a team with Naruto, Sasuke had learned to rein in his temper a bit.

"Kisame Hoshigaki, the second to last of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen," Izumi stated. "Large amounts of chakra. Highly proficient with water jutsus. His sword sucks away at the opponent's chakra."

Sasuke knew all of that of course; he had stolen Izumi's bingo book and thumbed through it, letting his Sharingan commit it all to memory back when he was curious about his brother's abilities. Of course, Izumi found out, but never directly confronted him about the incident.

She wasn't trying to inform him of Kisame's abilities, but rather that neither of them had the ability to take him down. A Chidori might do it, but that would require hitting Kisame at close range, which was hard enough.

But Sasuke wasn't about to go down with a fight.

Crossing the distance between the two of them in under three seconds, Sasuke's sword met Samehada. His arms quivered underneath the weight. Kisame's lips curled up into a sadistic smile before the weight doubled.

Jaw clenched, Sasuke pulled out his sword from underneath the weight, retreating to put some distance between them, while his Sharingan swirled, working to enrapture Kisame in a genjutsu. His Sharingan picked up the glazed look in Kisame's eyes. With that reassurance, Sasuke charged forward once more, the length of his sword crackling with lightning, ready to ram it through Kisame's heart.

Only for the glazed look in Kisame's eyes to disappear, for Kisame to grab the length of his sword with his bare hand, hardly looking fazed as the lightning charged chakra sliced through his palm, while his free hand swung the Samehada down at him.

Releasing his grip on his sword, Sasuke jumped backwards, but he was too slow. With a single nick of his arm, the Samehada had sucked away a noticeable amount of chakra. Blood began to trickle down his forearm, but he barely noticed it.

"Genjutsu of that caliber doesn't work on me," Kisame announced haughtily, as he hoisted the Samehada on his back. "All you Uchihas, thinking your genjutsu is undetectable. Stop wasting my time and let me fight with someone who is actually worthy."

That had set Sasuke off. To imply that he wasn't a worthy opponent, not after all of these years of training…

A hand on Sasuke's shoulder jerked him back to reality, reminding him to compose himself.

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Looks like someone has inferiority issues. Does it have something to do with your brother's legendary status?"

The only visible reaction was a slight clenching of the jaw, but that hadn't escaped Kisame's notice. The shark man let out an amused chortle.

"How tragic. The classic older brother overshadowing the younger, but unfortunately, it's not unjustified. Your genjutsu is so pathetic compared to Itachi's, much less Shisui's. In fact, it was even worse than that girl's."

Genjutsu wasn't his forte, Sasuke reminded himself. The three that Kisame had mentioned had chosen to divulge themselves into genjutsu arts, while Sasuke had taken an affinity to ninjutsu. Or at least, that's what he tried to tell himself.

Kisame shook his head in irritation, while he lazily tossed Sasuke's sword behind him, flinging it somewhere in the distance. With his now free hands, Kisame began to run through a series of sequences before he slammed the palm of his hand down onto the water.

"Happy feeding."

The water beneath them began to rock, so much that Sasuke actually had to concentrate to keep himself from sinking. Izumi glanced down, noting the four sharks that circled lazily beneath them, rocking the water with their movement.

"We have to retreat," Izumi told Sasuke. "As long as we are in his territory, we will be at a disadvantage." Especially since all of Izumi's specialities, the fire jutsu and genjutsu were virtually useless against him.

"Everywhere can become his territory," Sasuke grouted in irritation. "You saw how he summoned the water out of nowhere. Listen-"

Izumi never heard the end of his sentence. Her Sharingan picked up movement coming from her left side and barely managed to dodge as the Samehada came swinging down at her. As Kisame continued to strike at her, and Izumi dodging unrelentlessly, Kisame's free hand formed a few seals that her Sharingan didn't recognize before he stamped his foot against the water.

The water began to swirl, forming a whirlpool of sorts. Her training in medical ninjutsu and the fact that she was further from the center helped her to stay afloat, but Izumi couldn't say the same about Sasuke, who lost his footing and was sucked in.

Izumi cried out his name, reaching out to go help him, but Kisame continued to block her way. With renewed vigor, Izumi attacked him more viciously this time, her two kunais doing its job of deflecting his sword.

With her genjutsu and fire jutsus out of the cards, the only thing that Izumi had going for her was her taijutsu combined with her chakra scalpels, Rin's favorite style of fighting. Chakra scalpels, clean, precise cuts, that Izumi wasn't sure she could pull off, but to hell with it.

At this point, anything was better than nothing.

In the midst of exchanging blows, Izumi saw an opening and slapped an explosive tag to the underside of the Samehada. Kisame didn't notice and continued to rain blows down at her, always taking care to keep her at arm's length after he had gotten cut by her chakra scalpel. Not enough to do serious damage, but she was fairly certain that she tore through some muscle.

Izumi backflipped, under the guise of ducking from his sword, but in reality, the explosive tag was set to go off in the next moment. Landing quite a ways away, Izumi steadied herself for the impending blow.

It never came.

The spikes in the Samehada tore through the bandages, piercing through the explosive tag and rendering it useless. As the bandages came off, the large mouth broke free, its sharp teeth gnawing against each other. Kisame let go of the Samehada, allowing it to glide towards Izumi with its mouth snapping at her menacingly.

Jumping out of the Samehada's reach, Izumi tossed a kunai into its mouth, but didn't expect for its razor sharp teeth to break through the metal, shattering it into pieces. It spat out the remnants and continued to chase after her.

Her Sharingan allowed her to keep up with the Samehada's movement, yet continuing at this rate was utterly stupid and drained her chakra. She tried genjutsu once more, but that seemed to have no effect at all. A fireball jutsu in the Samehada's direction was enough to divert it for a couple of seconds, a couple of precious seconds that Izumi needed to focus on Kisame's next attack.

Even without his sword, Kisame was still a formidable opponent. Each blow that rained down on her was done with extra strength behind it; her eyes told her there was no chakra behind the blows. It was all brute strength.

When Izumi saw a smirk stretch across his face, Izumi was reminded that the Samehada was still there. Kisame swung a kunai down at her left side, forcing her to dodge to the right, right in the path of the Samehada.

Izumi let out a grunt of pain as the Samehada's mouth clamped down around her shoulder, its sharp teeth breaking through her skin and drawing blood. A large chunk of chakra left her body the moment the Samehada bit down, leaving her feeling drained. Channeling her chakra to her fist just like Rin had taught her so long ago, Izumi smashed it in Samehada's face, knocking the creature back several meters.

Her left hand moved to clutch her bleeding shoulder, working to channel healing chakra to it.

Kisame was mildly impressed, but he had succeeded in sucking away her chakra, just like he wanted. Checkmate.

Samehada hopped back into his grasp, reverting back to its former self minus the bandages. With the comfortable weight of the sword in his grasp, Kisame approached the Uchiha girl, who eyed him warily, but didn't have any indication that she was going to move. Kisame sighed, having hoped for a more entertaining battle, but he supposed that this would have to do. After all, he had another Uchiha brat to take care of, if his sharks still haven't gotten to him yet…

Kisame raised the sword of his head, briefly wondering if the girl was going to move at all. However, even if she did, Kisame would kill her in the next three moves, judging from her sluggish and weakened movements.

A large orange sword came down between Kisame and Izumi with enough force that it caused the water to part on two sides momentarily before the water filled in the empty space again. Kisame hissed, unable to react fast enough to prevent his fingers from being hacked off along with Samehada.

Black flames erupted on Samehada, the sword flopping around in the water to extinguish the flames. The water didn't put it out.

Blood dripped from the stumps of his hand. Kisame almost couldn't believe his eyes when the unknown man stepped out, standing protectively in front of the girl.

Itachi fucking Uchiha.

In all of the years that they had been in the Akatsuki together, Kisame hadn't known he had another ace up his sleeve. Nor had he ever suspected that Itachi wasn't as loyal as everyone made him out to be.

Kisame scoffed. But of course, if Itachi had spared the woman so many years ago during the massacre, that meant he didn't want her dead.

"Itachi?" Izumi questioned, wondering if she was imagining the Uchiha crest on the back of the man's shirt that was standing in front of her.

"Itachi Uchiha, get out of my way," Kisame demanded. "And only because we were comrades, I'm asking you nicely." At least the shark man confirmed that Izumi wasn't hallucinating. Itachi was very much real and very much standing in front of her.

But why? Did he have an ulterior motive?

Whatever it was, at least Itachi didn't seem interested in killing her at the moment. Izumi could take advantage of the distraction and sneak off to help Sasuke.

"No."

Kisame's eyes narrowed. "Oh? You're picking a fight with me?"

Itachi merely shrugged. "You think you can beat me?"

And there laid the problem. After Pein, the Uchiha cousins were considered to be the strongest members of the Akatsuki, even if they never liked to flaunt their skills. Kisame had witnessed first hand how terrifyingly strong Itachi's genjutsu was, strong enough to subdue Deidara and Hidan within the first minute.

Unfortunately, Kisame wasn't exactly genjutsu resistant. He had almost fallen for the girl's genjutsu earlier and if Itachi's genjutsu was stronger than hers…

Speaking of, the girl had disappeared, most likely to help the other Uchiha boy, but Kisame wasn't concerned with that at the moment.

"Why?"

"My loyalties have always laid with Konoha," Itachi said.

Kisame tsked. "What is the point of this attack anyways? If you and Uchiha are not on our side, then it is highly unlikely that we will win."

"What is the point?" Itachi echoed.

"I suppose there is none. I guess I'll leave…"

"I can sense your insincerity." With that, Itachi's Sharingan spun, forming into the pattern of the Mangekyo, drawing Kisame into a vastless dimension of red and black. Kisame found himself chained to a cross, even his brute strength, Kisame found himself unable to break free of the restraints.

Itachi was nowhere in sight, but he made his presence known. "This is the life of a shinobi."

"It is," Kisame agreed. He had always known that his death would have happened in battle, but he just never expected it would be at the hands of someone he onced considered a comrade. However, judging from the apologetic tone in Itachi's words, he felt the same.

Kisame stopped struggling and allowed himself to hang limply from the cross. Hordes of hungry sharks were swimming at a rapid pace towards him. Kisame smiled, the first genuine smile in many years.

Itachi had mercy on him. He was allowing him to die as he always wanted, by his own sharks.

In reality, Itachi watched as his former comrade sunk down below into the water, directly where his horde of hungry sharks had been circling, attracted to the blood that had been dripping from Kisame's hand. Itachi closed his eyes, shutting off his Sharingan, but also to pay his respects.

Kisame had been a formidable shinobi; Itachi would always remember that.

When Itachi felt his brother's chakra approaching him, he had half a mind to leave before his brother could confront him. Yet Itachi found himself rooted to his position, as his brother's angry chakra signature inched closer.

Their confrontation had been long overdue. And Itachi wasn't even sure that he would have another chance to see his brother again. After all, Itachi didn't come today expecting that he would get out of this alive.

"Why?" Sasuke demanded. Itachi's eyes instinctively rove over Sasuke's torso, noting that he had a few cuts and scrapes, but remained relatively unharmed. It was Izumi who had taken the brunt of the injuries, but her wound had already stopped bleeding.

"For the sake of the future," Itachi settled for replying. There were a lot of things that Sasuke could possibly be asking him about, ranging from the reason behind the massacre to why he was helping them, but his answer to any those questions remained one and the same.

Perhaps Sasuke would understand one day, when he had his own precious people to look after.

"There is no future for the Uchiha clan!" Sasuke spat. "You killed them all!"

Itachi cocked his head to the side. "You are alive, are you not?"

Sasuke sputtered, at a loss for words, but Itachi wasn't really concerned with his reaction. Sasuke had been predictable, harboring hatred towards him. It was Izumi who he couldn't read. Izumi simply stared at him with a mixture of fondness, disgust, and sadness all rolled into one. Itachi wasn't sure he wanted to know what she thought of him.

It turns out that Itachi couldn't stick around for much longer even if he wanted to. Over Sasuke's head, Itachi spotted the tendril of smoke emitting into the air, the kind from a flare. It had been one of their many Anbu codes many years ago.

One flare meant to retreat.

A second tendril of smoke joined that one.

Two meant a massive threat.

Leaving Sasuke and Izumi behind, Itachi turned tail and began to run in the direction of the smoke. He needed to regroup.

In all of the years that they had been together on Team Ro, Itachi had only seen the two flare signal once and that had been when Kakashi taichou had first taught them about the various Anbu codes.

Whatever it was that caused one of his old teammates to set it off, it was a big threat.

With that in mind, Itachi doubled his pace.

* * *

A full scale attack hadn't been on her mind, yet Tsunade wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting. Since the beginning of the attack, Tsunade had taken refuge on the rooftop, surrounded by four Anbu guards.

Tsunade restlessly paced around the rooftop, the tip of her sandal scraping against the tile. Her hand clenched, then unfurled, and the motion repeated several times. Upon seeing yet another tendril of smoke fill the air, her desire to join the battlefield increased tenfold. For the upteenth time, Tsunade cursed the fact that she was Hokage.

As Hokage, she needed to stay back to receive intel from the shinobis. As Hokage, she was calling all of the shots. As Hokage, she would be the last to join the fight, always.

Tsunade hated it. The feeling of being utterly useless, watching as the village crumbled building by building. The feeling of helplessness, as Katsuyu continued to report the update of the death toll from her shoulder. Regret and guilt, there was a lot of that too.

The situation was spiraling rapidly out of control and Tsunade wished that there was something she could do about it.

Hearing that the hospital was overfilled, that Tsunade could handle. All she needed to do was summon Katsuyu and heal the injured on the field, which substantially reduced the number of occupants at the hospital.

But receiving intel about a particular orange haired man who was able to repel all attacks, there was nothing she could do. There was no one she could think of who could counter his attack.

Said man had chosen that moment to appear on the rooftops.

All four Anbu guards had drawn their swords, but Tsunade knew that they were no match for the man. The man that looked strikingly similar to Yahiko, an orphan in Ame that Tsunade had encountered so many years ago.

"Hand over the tailed beasts," the Yahiko look alike demanded. "And perhaps I will spare your village from ruin."

"No." If there was one thing that was certain, it was that Konoha didn't betray their own.

"Such false bravado," the man murmured. "Perhaps, I shall show you what true pain feels like."

Something was going to happen, Tsunade could feel it in her gut. Yet as she reached forward to stop the man, with a simple repel jutsu, Tsunade felt her entire body fly backwards. With a taunting wave, the orange man departed as quickly as he had come, leaving Tsunade in the dust.

Once more, the Godaime gnawed at her bottom lip while her amber eyes stared out at the village, the one that her grandfather had built up. His dream. His vision. Their homes.

Yet as a vicious chill went down her spine as she spotted an orange hair man in the distance, a single thought went through her mind.

_The village may be destroyed, but the will of fire continues to burn._

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Until next time!**

**-MM**


	42. Will of Fire

**Chapter Forty One: Will of Fire**

Three years of being on the battlefield during the Third Great Ninja War and a decade of being in the Anbu, his body was trained to act. Not a single thought of hesitation crossed his mind as Kakashi dove straight into the carnage, grabbing a child by the collar of his shirt and jerking him away from the falling rubble. Tears slid down the child's dirt stained face, but Kakashi hardly noticed as he gently nudged the child towards his mother, who was profusely thanking him.

Yet his brain could hardly register any of her words, he found himself yelling for them to evacuate as he deftly leapt out of the way as a huge monster like creature's tail decimated another building. Hopping around the rubble, Kakashi quickly channelled chakra to his feet and began to scale up one of the still erect buildings.

Once on the roof, Kakashi spotted two more Anbu, one of them donning a white cloak. Whistling to get their attention, Kakashi began to signal their attack plan. The second Anbu had to jump mid way through Kakashi's signals to avoid facing the wrath of the creature's paws. After the other Anbu had landed on another rooftop nearby and a curt nod from the Anbu captain, Kakashi made the first move.

Running through the familiar hand sequences and slamming his palms together, four mud walls emerged from the ground, encasing the creature inside. All three of them summoned a massive amount of water, filling it up to the brim as the creature thrashed about, sending droplets of water splashing everywhere. A swish of the creature's tail and Kakashi felt the front side of his uniform being drenched, yet that was hardly enough to deter him from completing his sequence of hand seals.

A bolt of lightning struck the creature, it emitted a nasty, grating screech as its body continued to thrash about. Exchanging a curt nod with the Anbu captain, Kakashi left the scene, leaving the two of them to immobilize the creature.

His sensory skills weren't as good as Rin's, but there was no way he wouldn't recognize the familiar flicker of Shisui's chakra not too far away from him. Kakashi was tempted to join up with his old comrade, yet another chakra signature - definitely belonging to an enemy - appeared on his radar. Turning on his heel, Kakashi leapt towards the malicious chakra signature, fear clenching his heart as he registered another chakra signature in the same vicinity. Another chakra signature, barely developed and hardly noticeable.

A genin.

With the sense of urgency welling up in his chest, Kakashi pushed himself forward, praying that he would hopefully make it in time.

He felt like he was flying through the air as he jumped off the rooftop, shielding the quivering genin who had been in the process of backing away from the orange haired man. His back faced the enemy, his hand gripping tightly onto the black rod with a considerable amount of force.

One glare from Kakashi got the genin scrambling to his feet. With one last fearful glance back at Kakashi and the enemy, the genin took off running in the direction of the evacuation center.

The black rod snapped in half from the pressure. Releasing his half of the rod, Kakashi ran through the familiar signs of a mud wall before slamming his hands onto the ground. Tendo Pein didn't even look a bit fazed as the walls erected on both sides and behind him. Kakashi's trademark ball of lightning formed in the palm of his hand, heel digging into the dirt as he was ready to charge forward.

One look into those ominous purple eyes and Kakashi felt his body getting blasted with a heavy gust of wind, sending him flying back many meters. With that one move, everything in the one mile radius was flattened, reduced into nothing but a pile of rubble. He took advantage of the ruckus, hiding beneath a stray floorboard and forming a lightning clone to take his place out in the field.

Through the small cracks, Kakashi witnessed the battle between his clone and the enemy nin. A second Pein had shown up at some point in the battle, but Kakashi wasn't too focused on him. Instead his mind was reeling with the dozens of battle strategies as he began to uncover some of their abilities.

If only he had the chakra levels to actually pull off some of his plans.

As Kakashi watched as his clone desperately clung onto the metal chain to avoid being sucked into the razor blade, he knew that there wasn't much time left. Hand sticking into his weapons pouch, Kakashi pulled out a vial of liquid and quickly downed the contents in the matter of seconds. The vial was laid forgotten on the ground next to him as he felt all of his clone's memories entering in his mind, gradually merging with his own.

It was time for him to make his move.

Producing another clone, this time just a regular clone, Kakashi sent the clone out of the rubble while his real body forged through the underground, pinpointing the razor blade guy's location as his clone engaged him in combat.

His hand broke through the earth, latching onto the enemy's ankle and yanked him partially downwards as his clone produced a chidori, ready to ram it into the enemy's body. Yet another push jutsu sent his clone flying into the air, poofing out of existence as his clone's back hit a jutted edge of the rubble.

Pulling the enemy ninja's body completely underground, save for the head, Kakashi slapped a few explosive tags onto the immobile ninja before he teleported to one of his nearby markers. An explosion wracked the vicinity, with enough force that almost knocked Kakashi clean off of his own feet. A scowl was etched across Pein's face, as a hand was raised to shield his face from the flying debris.

Once the explosion died down and the smoke cleared, Kakashi and Pein stared at each other from a distance, inwardly sizing each other up. More than a dozen strategies ran through Kakashi's head, all of them involving how he was going to get close enough to Pein to finish him off. With his push and pull force, it was virtually impossible.

Having copied over a thousand jutsus by this point and encountering all sorts of enemy nins in his twenty five years of being a shinobi, Kakashi knew there was a weakness in every jutsu. The problem was finding the weakness, as the man standing in front of him seemed to exhibit none except for his lack of variety in jutsus.

Pulling out two of his former sensei's three pronged kunai, Kakashi flung the first at Pein, followed by another to his left. As expected, a push jutsu sent the kunai flying back as Kakashi teleported himself to the other kunai to avoid the brunt of the push.

His hand was ready, already armed with a kunai with a smoke bomb attached at the handle, thrown ten seconds after his first attack. As Kakashi flickered out of the path of the push jutsu, he tried again, two kunais, followed by a shuriken three seconds later.

The push jutsu came, but Kakashi took the opportunity to jump into the air, sending another three pronged kunai flying towards Pein.

Seemingly with ease, the orange-haired man dodged the weapon, with a slight movement of his head which would have been a completely natural move for anyone but him. Kakashi mentally filed away that piece of information as he contemplated his next move as he backflipped to avoid a missile, launched by the other enemy who he had thought he had destroyed.

Guess not, seeing the charred enemy face still able to crane his head as he prepared to aim another missile right at Kakashi.

The second missile launched, joining the first in following Kakashi around no matter how much he tried to throw them off of his trail. Eyes flickering to the three pronged kunai lodged in the ground behind Pein, Kakashi made a split second decision and teleported to that kunai, the missiles following him.

As expected, Pein used the push jutsu to derail the missile's track and that left Kakashi with a barely two second window. But Kakashi was ready, heel buried into the dirt, using the momentum to spin around with a fully charged Chidori in the palm of his hand. There was no hesitation as his arm stretched out, ready to ram the Chidori into the body. This time he was cautious, not looking into the Rinnegan, and within the two second window of vulnerability.

Even with the Sharingan, Kakashi never anticipated the half marred body of the other enemy jump in the way at the last minute, shielding what seemed to be the main body. With his arm still stuck in the body of the other guy, Pein recovered from the two second of vulnerability. Fingers unfurled, palm facing outward, Pein launched a stronger push force than he previously had.

The blast of wind hit Kakashi like a trainwreck, sending him flying back several meters, his momentum only stopped as his back hit a crumbling building. Eyes wide, Kakashi jerked his arm out of the mangled body, feeling for a familiar tug and teleported to one of his stray markers.

Warm liquid trickled down from his forehead, alongside his face until it dripped onto his chunin issued vest. His chest heaved up and down as he tried to feel for Pein's chakra once more. It was gone, almost like he had never been there at all.

It was at that moment that reinforcements arrived, a group of five shinobis jumping down from the rooftops and landing in the middle of the clearing. Among them, Kakashi only recognized the two Akimichi and vaguely a Hyuga in the mix, but the rest were foreign faces. Choza was the one to approach Kakashi.

"What happened?"

Kakashi didn't bother with the trivial details of the battle; instead, he spilled all of the intelligence that he gained on the enemy ninja as well as what he knew from the information that Itachi and Shisui had gathered while they were with the Akatsuki. Choji was the one sent to deliver the message to Lady Hokage while Choza led the rest of the reinforcement squad to aid others.

"You sure you don't want to come?" Choza offered once more. "We could use your manpower."

Kakashi shook his head once more. "There's something that I need to do."

Choza nodded and the entire squad was gone within the next few seconds.

Even with Rin's extra chakra boost, he was already down to one third of his reserves and was continually losing chakra as his Sharingan continued to greedily suck on his abysmal reserves.

It hardly helped that he felt an ominous feeling in his gut and the fact that it had something to do with Pein's hasty retreat. If the battle had continued any further, it was clear that Pein would emerge as the victor, so Kakashi couldn't fathom why he had given up the opportunity to kill him.

And while Kakashi enjoyed being right on most occasions, he hated that he had to be right this time.

Yet there was no avoiding the truth when Shisui seemingly appeared out of nowhere right next to him, confirming Kakashi's very fears.

"Pein is going to destroy the village."

And after witnessing Pein's skills, Kakashi had no doubt that he could flatten the entire village if he could flatten everything within a one mile radius with such ease.

"What's the plan, taichou?" Shisui asked and just like that, Kakashi felt like he was thrown back fifteen years into the past, before the Uchiha Massacre even happened. To when the four of them were still a team. To when the two Uchiha cousins seemingly always deferred to him for guidance, when Kakashi knew that both of them were intelligent enough to make their own decisions.

Except Kakashi wasn't even sure that he had an answer for Shisui this time.

His bloody fingers moved to the feel for the left pocket of his chunin vest, where he stored five of his most precious things. One was Rin's medical kit that she had gifted him when he became jonin. The second was the bells, to always remind him of the importance of teamwork. The third was the special plated sword his sensei had gifted him on his birthday, sealed away as Kakashi had grown out of using a sword as part of his fighting style. The fourth was Obito's goggles, a constant reminder of the definition of a real hero. And the fifth? A pair of flares, a mark of his days in Team Ro.

The flares…

With his thumb, Kakashi flicked open the pocket, pulling out the scroll. Tossing the scroll to Shisui, who caught it without even questioning what they were for, Kakashi finalized the last bit of his strategy in his head. The only time when he only had one plan, with no escape strategy. With hardly an inkling of an idea if he would live to see tomorrow...yet his heart wouldn't let him do anything but put the future of the village first.

"The flares, light them up," Kakashi instructed as his lone black eye stared out in the distance.

"What are you planning?" Shisui asked as he undid the sealing formula. Two flares laid on the blank scroll.

"To save the village."

* * *

Fighting against paper made Rin realize exactly how deadly paper could be. She had never put much thought into it beyond paper being useful for making explosive tags, but when explosive tags were mixed in with regular paper that was hurtling at her at top speed, paper was dangerous.

Rin leapt out of the way as the shuriken paper flew past her, denoting themselves. There wasn't any time to stall as paper butterflies were fluttering towards her, no doubt mixed in with explosive tags also.

None of her water jutsus worked; it seemed that the paper was water resistant. Fire was an option but Rin didn't have any fire jutsus in her arsenal, so the battle thus far had been her ducking and dodging all traces of paper while Rin analyzed her opponent's attacks.

Konan was smart too, Rin could see her amber eyes analyzing her moves as well, trying to hone in on her weakness. Rin's left side was always a bit more vulnerable than her right, but a simple genjutsu prevented Konan from exploiting that weakness. And it seemed that Konan never even picked up on the genjutsu, which encouraged Rin to try something a bit more bold.

Weaving together an image of her getting caught with the paper, the scraps of paper quickly latching onto her skin and piling on top of each other at a rapid pace, Rin hoped the image was believable enough based on what she had observed so far of the woman's skill.

Konan's eyes narrowed, hand raised to break through the first layer of the genjutsu. Her chakra settled down once more as her amber eyes drank in the scene. When her lips curled into a victorious smile, Rin knew that she had gotten her.

"I would surrender if I were you. Perhaps we will even spare some of your comrades," Konan stated. Rin resisted the urge to scoff and imagined that her genjutsu self was responding back with a scathing remark.

Rin knew her story, an Ame war orphan who originally started the Akatsuki as an organization dedicated towards peace before Obito came along to brainwash them. Her heart felt a twinge of pity for the woman, having lived in despair for the greater part of her life, but Konan was her enemy. Rin gently stepped forward, hand raised with chakra scalpels already formed.

Before Rin could regret it or Konan would finally realize something was amiss and break out of the genjutsu, her feet carried her forward, scalpel mere inches from Konan's neck when a hand shot out, grasping Konan's shoulder and pulling her out of Rin's reach. Konan jolted out of the genjutsu with a gasp, the glazed look in her amber eyes fading away.

The other nin, one of the Peins, kept a steady hand on Konan as his purple eyes seemed to pierce into Rin's soul.

"You won't win this battle," Rin told him.

"Is that so?" the Pein responded.

"Your friend would not have wanted this. To see that you are waging war on another village, wrecking havoc, turning others into orphans just like others have done to your village back then."

That seemed to strike a nerve in the Pein. Konan's eyes widened briefly, before worry shone in her eyes as she turned to face her companion, as if uncertain herself what Pein would do next.

"You have no right to speak as if you understand."

Rin smiled sadly. "Oh but I do understand. You aren't the only one with a tragic backstory. Do you enjoy being brainwashed by some masked man who is already long dead? Exactly what did he tell you?"

Rin knew exactly what Obito had told him; he had told her so many years ago when he visited her in her dreams, but she wanted to hear it from Pein himself. To hear exactly how devoted and convicted he was to the cause.

Instead of Pein, it was Konan who spoke. "Dead?" Her eyes flickered to Pein for confirmation, but it was clear that the orange hair man didn't seem to know anything about it either.

"Have you not wondered why he has never appeared all of these years?"

Konan's eyes narrowed. "You must be lying. He does not like to make himself known; he is lurking in the shadows somewhere."

"Doesn't like to make himself known? Then why do I know about him?"

"A mistake on his part, but don't worry, I will rectify his error." Konan lunged forward, her arm already dissolving into scraps of paper, but it was her companion who stopped her. Rin eyed the two of them warily, wondering if there was another surprise coming her way. After all, Rin knew virtually nothing about the Pein, except that he wasn't the main body and it was unlikely that Konan would fall for her genjutsu a second time.

"You are no match for her."

Konan opened her mouth to argue, but one look from the Pein kept her mouth shut. "Don't worry, we'll be back for you."

"You're stupid if you think I'm just going to let you leave."

Pein smirked. "You won't have a choice."

Four very familiar chakra signatures appeared behind her. The first swing forced Rin to retreat, tearing her eyes off of Konan and Pein, allowing the two of them to escape. Standing right in front of her were the four Kages.

Just her luck, the third time fighting reanimations, and the jutsu seemed to be stronger than she had last seen it. And with each time, more former Hokages would be thrown into the mix. But Orochimaru was dead, so who…?

"You again," the Second Hokage murmured.

The First Hokage had a more bashful response than his brother. "Ahhh, you wouldn't happen to have a counter jutsu against this, would you? All I wanted to do was die in peace…"

The Third Hokage was more focused on the state of the village, his eyes roving over the destroyed buildings and taking in every bit of the wreckage.

"Who reanimated you?"

It was the Third who answered. "Kabuto."

Fucking Kabuto. Rin regretted not tracking him down after Orochimaru died, naively thinking that he wouldn't have been any trouble without Orochimaru to guide him. And yet here she was, facing four of the most legendary shinobis in Konoha's history.

And to make matters worse, their presence was like a beacon, drawing in shinobis in the vicinity. Among them, Genma, Raidou, various chunins that Rin didn't recognize, Izumi, Sasuke, Asuma, Gai, and lastly Naruto, who came charging in with his usual fervor. But that enthusiasm died down when he stared at the Fourth Hokage for the first time, face to face.

A lone tear of happiness slipped down from Minato's face as he was finally graced with the sight of the grown up version of his son.

"Dad," Naruto could barely utter. There was no time to be sentimental as Rin recognized the telltale sign of control being restricted as their eyes flashed back. Faster than the blink of an eye, Minato had already lunged forward, his three pronged kunai in his hand, outstretched and ready to slash at a frozen Naruto.

Rin got there first, teleporting to the marker she placed on Naruto and shoving him out of the way. She whirled around, her senbon clashing against her sensei's three pronged kunai. Normally, her sensei would have smiled at her and congratulated her on her improvement, but there was none of that.

It wasn't him. Just a shell of his former self.

Somewhere in between the fighting, Rin could hear Sasuke insulting Naruto, jolting the blonde out of his reverie. Gathering his bearings, Naruto dove into the battle, taking on the Shodaime alongside Sasuke and Izumi. Asuma took on his father, while Gai, Genma, and Raidou faced off against the Nidaime. Even with their greater numbers, it was clear that they were still outmatched and severely outclassed.

Except this time, Rin found herself finally able to keep up with her former sensei. Last time, she always felt that she had been half a second slower, but this time, she was squaring off against him, blow for blow. Where he teleported to, Rin was right there with him, blocking him from attacking her comrades unsuspectingly.

"Turn yourself in Sanbi, and no one has to die."

It wasn't his voice, Rin told herself as she attacked her former sensei with extra vigor.

His speed was still as fast as ever, his blows as lethal just as she remembered, but she had years of training over him. She had years of studying his techniques and figuring out his weaknesses.

Rin cocked her head to the right, narrowly avoiding a Rasengan that was pummeled into the wall next to her. Whirling around, her chakra scalpel sliced cleanly through Minato's shoulder, tearing off his arm. Scraps of paper was all that was left as Minato teleported away from her, the scraps already swirling around his arm and reforming.

A cry pierced the air and her head turned sharply that Raidou had been the victim of being gutted by the Nidaime's teleportation jutsu. Teleporting to Genma's side, Rin was able to counter the Second's sword with a kunai, parrying it away with enough force that it knocked the sword out of his hands. Gai took over from there, sending a roundhouse kick at the Nidaime's face. Genma covered for her while Rin bent down, her hands already working to stitch Raidou's wound close.

Raidou grunted in pain, but Rin's mind was too frazzled to whisper words of comfort to him. Not when her senses were hyper alert of every Kage's movement. Not when she could feel Minato's chakra building up, just like he was going to form a Rasengan. Not when she could feel the Nidaime's chakra building up a massive quantity, the telltale sign that it was going to be a water jutsu.

"Watch out!" She didn't even have enough time to warn them exactly what to watch out for as the Second unleashed his massive water wave, with enough surge power to knock each of them clean off of their feet. Rin was the first to react, dragging along an injured Raidou and teleporting them both to a nearby. With an apologetic look, Rin took off once more, landing right in front of Minato, who had been about to ram a Rasengan into Genma's unsuspecting backside. Rin caught it in time, knocking Minato off course, sending him colliding into the Second Hokage. The Second Hokage had enough sense to move out of the way.

The massive quantity of water now became her territory. In one move, Rin froze over the entirety of the water, much to the Nidaime's dismay. From there, tendrils of ice began to emerge out of the block of ice, first capturing the Third Hokage, wrapping itself around all of his limbs. As the oldest of the bunch, he was at the weakest, the first target to eliminate.

Freeing Asuma to aid the others, Rin bounded over to the Third Hokage. Chakra scalpel in hand, she cut into the back of his head, feeling for the familiar tag. Yanking her hand out after her fingers brushed against the paper, Rin examined the sealing, much more complex than when she first saw it.

With time, she could find a counter seal to it, but there was no time. Not when her comrades were injured and dying. Not when they were exhausting their chakra while the Kages didn't seem a bit fazed. Not when she spotted two familiar tendrils of smoke in the distance.

Two flares.

Team Ro needed her.

But her comrades here needed her too.

Rin was tempted to stay, but the nagging feeling wouldn't go away. The severity of the situation must have been for Team Ro to set off the two flares…

"Isn't that…?" Izumi questioned, in between ducking the Fourth's blows. "You should go."

"But I can't leave you guys."

"We got it," Izumi told her. "We won't go down without a fight. Besides, we'll hold out until you can come back with the rest of the team."

Rin wished she shared the same level of confidence as Izumi, but seeing her comrades holding their own against the former Kages helped to spur her into making her decision. Leaving three shadow clones behind, one to track down Pein's real body, one to heal Raidou, and the other to aid in battle, Rin teleported her real body to Kakashi's side.

As she recovered from the whiplash, the worries stayed at the forefront of her mind that she could hardly register that Itachi and Shisui was standing in front of her, on their side. That Team Ro was complete once more.

"He's going to destroy the village."

And just like that, all of the color drained from Rin's face. All of her worries about her comrades faded away as her mind racked with the various possibilities of how they were going to protect everyone in the village.

She came up blank.

"Here's what we're going to do."

Rin listened intently to Kakashi's plan. It was risky and scary and hardly foul proof and they would most likely die.

As Rin healed all of their injuries and provided them with a bit of extra chakra, along with some healing chakra for their Sharingans, Shisui and Itachi took off, heading to the east and west side, respectively. While her hand hovered over Kakashi's Sharingan, not a word was spoken between them.

Even when she healed the rest of his injuries, including the one on his forehead, and channelled extra chakra into his body, neither of them said a word. When Rin was done, she took a step back, creating a bit of distance between the two of them. The tension around them was suffocating, grasping and choking her until she could stand it no longer.  
"I'll take the north end."

"No." Such a simple word, but said with such authority and conviction that Rin was tempted to listen to him.

"I'll have a better chance of surviving."

Both of them knew that the person on the south end would be the one to most likely live because they would be from the farthest point from where the epicenter of the push jutsu would be located.

"The medic should be the last to die."

Rin gritted her teeth, hating that Kakashi was quoting back the rules of being a medical ninja back to her.

"I have the seal, those rules don't apply to me," Rin tried to argue, but faltered when Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder. The moment his dark eye looked into hers, pleadingly, Rin knew she had lost the battle.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi murmured. "I love you."

There were a lot of things that Rin wanted to say at that moment, but she never got the chance. The next thing she knew, she had been teleported all the way across the village, on top of the Hokage mountain.

Salty tears streamed down her cheeks as her hands moved mechanically to form the hand seals to erect a Four Sealing Barrier. Her heart was screaming at her to go back, to tell Kakashi that she loved him too, but her sense of duty rooted her to her position.

Through her blurry vision, she could see a large red prism form around the majority of Konoha.

On the other side of the village, Kakashi was the first to feel the effects of the push jutsu. The simple barrier that Kakashi had erected around himself hadn't been enough to keep the effects out, the force was so strong that it knocked Kakashi off of his feet, but he still held on to his hold on the jutsu. Vaguely, he could register the gates of Konoha being decimated, followed by the trees falling row by row.

He angled his body so that the brunt of the push kept shoving him against the prism. The prism continued to hold strong, withstanding the push, much to Pein's annoyance.

Deep down, Kakashi knew the barrier wouldn't hold much longer. Not when he felt his chakra levels rapidly draining away at such an astonishing speed, not when he spotted Pein's gaze fixated on him.

Kakashi was too far away to make out Pein's expression, but he saw Pein angling his body so that he now faced him.

So that the final blast would hit Kakashi square in the stomach, rather than the village. The moment Kakashi was forced to let go of his hands, the barrier fell apart in an instant. His ears were roaring with the sound of air, his body was throbbing with pain all over, yet his mind wasn't focused on that.

Black spots danced around in his vision tauntingly, but between the black spots, he noted that the majority of Konoha was still intact.

His work was done.

His mission was accomplished.

And for the rest? He would leave it up to them.

Them, Team Ro and Team Seven, the remaining of his most precious people.

A small smile found its way to his lips as Kakashi drank in the sight of Konoha, his home, once more.

Then it all went dark.

* * *

**A/N: Hi again! **

**Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I had to do it at least once lol. Anyways wanted to have a few clarifications here: assume that Kabuto did what Orochimaru did in canon to reanimate the Four Kage. I'm sorry for pulling the reanimination trope for the 3rd time in this story, but at this point, I was out of ideas and decided to mash up Pein and war arc together. With the Uchihas turning on Akatsuki, I needed to create more opponents otherwise it would be too easy to win. Writing this part made me fear that I ruined the whole thing which led me to put off writing the ending for 5 months, but at this point, it is what it is and I just want to finish this story for my own peace of mind. **

**Thanks for reading! Until next time.**

**-MM**


	43. Final Plea

**Chapter Forty Two: Final Plea **

Too many things were happening at once. On one side of the village, the clone that Rin left to fight against the reanimated Hokages poofed out of existence as she used herself as a body shield, saving Asuma from a critical blow from the Shodaime. The one in the trees had finished healing Raidou to the best of her abilities and jumped down to replace her clone's position.

Yet barely two minutes into the fight, that clone also took a hit, her clone's weakened self unable to withstand Minato's incredible speed.

They were fighting a losing battle, but fueled by Naruto's shouts of determination and encouragement, they persisted in their fight.

On the south side, where her real body was located, Rin watched as the barrier fell apart. Without even a moment's hesitation, she teleported right to Kakashi's side, catching his body before it could slam into the ground. Gripping Kakashi's shoulders, she pulled him into an upright position, propping his body against one of the buildings.

Her trembling hands glowed green as it hovered over Kakashi's body. Three broken ribs, multiple fractures on his shoulders, arm bent at an odd angle, blood dripping down everywhere. His breath was barely noticeable, his pulse so, so faint.

If Kakashi was conscious, he might have yelled at her to go after Pein, to take advantage of his window of weakness after executing such a jutsu, but Rin couldn't bring herself to care as the familiar black markings ran down her torso, extending itself to Kakashi's body. She could only desperately hope that she could make it in time.

On opposite sides of the village, Itachi was running towards the village center at top speed while Shisui teleported himself in multiple, short distance trips to the center. He was the first to arrive and engage in a fight with the orange haired man. Even at a disadvantage because he was recovering from his jutsu, Pein was still no foe to be trifled with.

On the outskirts of Konoha, Rin's last remaining clone stopped short of the makeshift tree, no doubt Konan's handiwork. Lifting the flap made of a multitude of scraps of paper layered on top of each other, she barely put one foot in before a stream of paper shurikens came flying at her. Dropping down to the ground, her clone rolled out of the crossfire, thankful for her fast reflexes, lest her clone was destroyed.

It was her last chance.

Much to her surprise, it was the real body of Pein, Nagato if Rin remembered correctly from Obito's account, who called off Konan. Konan eyed her warily, but retreated back to the red haired man's side.

Her medical instincts kicked in as she drank in the sight of the real Pein. Complexion as pale as paper, malnourished to the point where she could make out the outline of the entirety of his ribcage, limbs so thin that she was pressed to believe that his feeble legs could support his weight. Not to mention the multitude of rods that protruded from his backside.

A normal medic might have concluded that it was some sort of terminal illness that was slowly killing him from the inside, yet Rin knew better. His jutsu, his power derived from the Rinnegan...that was what was slowly destroying him from the inside out.

With great power came great consequences.

"You found me," Nagato murmured.

Rin narrowed her eyes. "Why are you carrying out the plans of a dead man?"

"Even if not to retrieve the tailed beasts, I would still attack Konoha!" A coughing fit wracked his feeble body. Concern was displayed all over Konan's feature, but she didn't dare to move from her position to tend to her ailing friend lest she left herself vulnerable to Rin.

Rin didn't have any intentions of fighting anyways; her clone body would be decimated in a matter of seconds. She just needed to stall for time until her real body could arrive.

"In your current condition, you have a week left until your organs completely shut down. Two weeks if you are lucky," Rin concluded. "Unless you get medical treatment of course." Surprise was written all over Konan's face as her amber eyes flickered over to Nagato.

It took a great amount of effort for Nagato to even raise his head so that he could look at her in the eyes.

"Then destroying Konoha will be the last thing that I do," Nagato spat. "Just like Konoha destroyed my village."

Rin vaguely remembered Obito telling her about Danzo's schemes in the Hidden Village of the Rain, but even he hadn't known the full story so the picture was incomplete. And it was ironic really that a dead man could still cause trouble even in death as if he hadn't spent all of his living years creating trouble.

If Rin could bring him back from the dead to kill him all over again, she would have gladly done it. They had gone too easy on him the first time.

"Danzo is not representative of Konoha. I'm sorry that your friend Yahiko had to die in vain, but channelling that anger into a village of mostly innocent people is not the way to go. Wasn't Akatsuki founded on the principle of peace?"

"Yahiko. How did you-?"

"Like I said, the masked man is dead. Before he died, he told me all about the Akatsuki and its quest to create an alternate world."

Konan and Nagato shared a look.

"So Madara is dead," Konan murmured lowly. "When?"

"Sixteen years ago, he carried out an attack on Konoha by unleashing the Kyuubi on the village when the seal was at its weakest. He died during the invasion."

"And he told you about the Akatsuki because…?"

Rin shrugged. "He wanted to repent. The masked man you know is not the real Madara Uchiha. Part of the plan was to fully reanimate Madara Uchiha from the dead with your Rinnegan. The man that you consider to be a comrade planned all along to turn on you to obtain your eyes."

"Regardless," Rin continued. "Without the power of the Sharingan, the plan can never be fully activated even if you succeed in capturing all of the tailed beasts, so whatever fake world that Madara promised you won't happen now."

Nagato cursed. "Itachi and Shisui were always loyal to Konoha, weren't they?"

"Yes. They were sent to monitor your movements and abilities."

"It doesn't matter," Nagato stated, shaking his head lightly. "Even if I cannot create the perfect world, I can still extract revenge for Yahiko by destroying Konoha!"

His finger moved, prompting Rin to charge forward to stop him from executing that control on his Pein bodies. Konan was quick to intercept her, the metal of their blades ringing out in the closed space, echoing off of the walls of the makeshift shelter.

"Danzo is dead," Rin hissed. "We've already eradicated his entire Root Foundation. Orochimaru, who schemed with Danzo, is dead as well. Everyone that was involved in Yahiko's death is dead!"

Nagato stopped his movements. "And that makes everything okay?"

"No, but everyone in the village is innocent. You were a war orphan yourself, you know what it's like to lose everything. Are you trying to become the one inflicting the pain instead?"

"It's not the people but rather a byproduct of the system. To eradicate the system, those in positions of power must die."

"The Bloody Mist was able to purge the corruption from the ranks without destroying an entire village!" Rin exclaimed. "Should I go destroy the village because their corruption was what led me to be forced into becoming the Sanbi? I swear to you that I will personally dismantle the entire Konoha system from inside and out and erase the remnants of corruption that remain."

Starting with the two Konoha elders that had always been in tandem with Danzo's ideologies.

Nagato's eyes softened, like he was actually taking her words into consideration. Konan had backed away from her, both of them lowering their weapons as a show of peace.

"And how do I know that I can trust you?"

"You can't," Rin told him bluntly. "But there's a certain point in time where you need to learn how to place faith in the next generation. If you want, I can heal you to prolong your death so that you can see the future, but…"

Both of them knew that prolonging his death only meant continuing to live in an excruciating amount of pain. His condition was too far gone to be completely cured.

"Faith." Nagato said, playing around with how the word sounded from his lips. "Faith."

"Trust me." Rin held her hand out for Nagato to take.

He looked at her in the eye. "How can you be so confident?"

A smile stretched across her lips. "Because my comrades will stand with me. The next generation have taken our teachings seriously and I have the utmost confidence that they will finish what I cannot accomplish in my lifetime."

"The next generation."

"Yes, the next generation."

Just like when it seemed that Nagato wasn't going to, his thin, bony arm reached out and placed his hand in hers. Konan stared at their hands for a few moments before she hesitantly reached out, placing her hand on top of Nagato's.

_Thank you for trusting me. _

* * *

The landscape was completely white, almost blindingly so. Kakashi slowly turned in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, examining his surroundings. Except there was nothing to examine simply because there was nothing to be seen.

Just a vast plane of nothingness.

Why was he even here? The last thing he remembered was his head slamming against something when Pein blasted that last shot at him. He should still be in Konoha.

Even the hospitals didn't look this glaringly white.

Unless...he was dead.

The notion of being dead didn't bother him as much as it should; it was ingrained into his being that there was always a possibility that he would die in his line of work. The prospect of death practically meant nothing to him in his earlier days of Anbu, but now, Kakashi only regretted that he didn't get an opportunity to say goodbye to his precious people.

The precious people that he left behind in the world of living.

He hoped that they were okay.

Kakashi kept walking forward, or what he assumed to be forward. He couldn't tell, not when everything looked practically the same. But at some point, he'd have to reach somewhere, so he continued to trudge forward.

Nostalgic thoughts flickered in his mind while Kakashi continued walking. Recalling the stupid arguments that he had with Obito put a smile on his face. And those memories served to remind him of the person that Obito really was, not the perpetrator behind the Kyuubi attack, but kid who was always making horrible excuses for being late and screaming at the top of his lungs to anyone that would listen that he was going to become Hokage.

His sensei was next. The times that they spent researching and developing jutsus were the highlights of his childhood because deep down inside, all Kakashi ever wanted was to bask in a comforting presence. The days when they sparred always pumped his adrenaline since he knew that he was in for a challenge. The instances where Minato annoyed him to the point where Kakashi caved in to join him for dinner with Kushina were the most memorable. He would never admit it, but it was those dinners that reminded him that he wasn't alone.

That he had a family.

Team Ro. It felt so strange that he was the one doing the leaving this time around, rather than the one to be left behind. It was such a shame that right as their team completely reassembled that it was broken apart once more. He'd been looking forward to squaring off with the Uchiha cousins. Ten years or so of training and honing their skills would have made for an interesting spar.

Mostly, Kakashi felt sorry that he couldn't be their taichou any longer.

Kakashi was jolted out of his thoughts when he saw a familiar figure up ahead. His back was facing towards him, but Kakashi felt like he could recognize him regardless of the angle. He was a bit taller than Kakashi remembered him being, his right arm completely mangled, but it was him.

Obito Uchiha.

Obito slowly turned around and Kakashi took the opportunity to drink in his appearance. Almost nothing had changed about him except for the scars that covered the right side of his face and the missing left eye. His grin was exactly as Kakashi remembered, silly and slightly idiotic. Not that he would tell him that; Kakashi wasn't looking for a fight this time around.

"You're such an idiot," Kakashi told him. It was Obito's fault that his left eye started tearing up, droplets of tears slowly rolling down his cheek before soaking the material of his mask. "Why didn't you come back?"

"I'm sorry," Obito said, but it wasn't him that he owed an apology to.

"Tell that to Sensei and Kushina nee."

"I did, to Kushina nee at least. Sensei's soul isn't here; it is trapped in the Death Reaper Seal, so until his soul is freed from that, I won't be able to see him."

"What about before when he wasn't sealed?"

Obito shrugged. "I don't know. I've been stuck in limbo since my death. I assumed he and Kushina made it to the afterlife when they died; I only saw Kushina because she came back to wait for Sensei."

"Speaking of," Obito continued. Without warning, Obito sucker punched him right in the shoulder with enough force to jerk him backwards.

"What the hell was that?" Kakashi exclaimed. He promised that he would play nice so that they didn't get into an argument again, but all promises were off since Obito decided to get physical. "Don't think I won't hit you because you are still a kid because I will."

"Damnit Kakashi," Obito cried out, flailing his arms outwards. "You weren't supposed to show up for another forty years! I had so many things planned out for the next forty years and there you go again, ruining all my plans. Hmph."

"You were waiting for me?"

Obito couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Duh. I felt that I needed to get some closure before I can truly move on to the afterlife. I already saw Rin, now I'm just waiting for you."

"And now that you are here, I forgot everything I was planning to say to you," Obito continued, chuckling lightly to himself. "But thank you for seeing the future for me. And for protecting Rin."

A pained feeling welled up in Kakashi's chest. "Rin and I...we...I'm sorry, but…"

Obito waved him off. "I know. I've been keeping tabs on the two of you and I know that it was inevitable that you would reciprocate her feelings, but I swear Bakakashi, if you make her cry again, I'm going to beat you up when you do die."

"Aren't I already dead?" Kakashi deadpanned.

"Nope," Obito said, emphasizing the 'p.' "Your chakra is quite faint, but I can still feel it so you're still alive. Probably on the verge of dying, but Rin is not going to let you die."

Kakashi held out his arms, examining his entire body. Nothing seemed to be particularly different about him other than the fact that he was in this strange dimension, but Kakashi wouldn't know what death looked like anyways.

"Are you sure?"

Obito shrugged. "I don't know. Romo told me Rin was here once too and she's still alive, isn't she?"

"Rin never told me about that. Who's Romo?"

"He's the keeper of this dimension. He helps to guide souls to their right destination. There are quite a few who linger behind though, like me. I'm not the only one that's waiting for you, you know."

"Who?"

Obito shot him a cheeky smile. "Guess you should keep going to find out, Bakakashi. Don't you know how great I feel that I finally know something that you don't for once?"

Kakashi rolled his eye at Obito's antics. Nevertheless, there was still a smile underneath his mask as he parted with Obito. Obito shoved him forward, joking for him to not miss him too much. Once Kakashi had put quite a bit of distance between the two of them, Obito yelled at him to name a kid after him.

Like hell he would do that.

Obito had gotten smarter; Kakashi would give him credit for that. He waited until he was too far away to sock him in the face.

His conversation with Obito kept him thoroughly amused for the next ten minutes until the scenery changed. The vast whiteness ebbed away, replaced by total darkness save for a glimpse of light a bit further down. Kakashi cautiously approached the light, the source becoming clearer and clearer as he walked closer.

A campfire.

The tendrils from the fire illuminated the man's features, revealing long, silver hair just like his own. And a face that people had always commented Kakashi's to be strikingly similar to.

Kakashi had no qualms about approaching his father and taking a seat on the log next to him. He stretched his legs out in front of him.

"Tou san," Kakashi greeted. The words sounded so foreign coming from his mouth, yet it sounded so right at the same time.

A ghost of a smile formed on Sakumo's lips. "Ah Kakashi. I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"That's what Obito told me too."

Sakumo let out a soft sigh. "I'm sorry for everything, Kakashi. It was selfish of me."

"I'm proud of you for doing what you thought was right. I already forgave you a long time ago. Obito, he was the one who taught me the importance of comrades and I think he's right. You are a true hero, tou san."

Tears welled up in the corners of Sakumo's eyes. While he tried not to cry, a real smile stretched across his face, the first in such a long time.

"Thank you son. Now tell me what you've been up to."

Kakashi cocked his head. "It's a long story."

"That's alright. I have time."

* * *

Bad news seemed to come one after another. Katsuyu had finally made her way to her, resting on her shoulder while she continued to deliver updates. The hospital was already stretched to full capacity so they had begun to do field treatment. Most of the civilians had safely evacuated, but a group of them hadn't been so lucky and had gotten in the crossfire. Naruto's group against the three Kages were fighting a losing battle.

Their chakra was finite, while the reanimations were not. They were made of flesh, while the reanimations couldn't feel an ounce of pain. Gai opened the fifth gate, which was enough to push the Kages back, but not nearly enough to subdue them entirely.

The only good piece of news was that their barrier had been successful in protecting the majority of Konoha.

Rin desperately wanted to rejoin the group fighting against the Kages, but if she left, Kakashi would most certainly die. Her shadow clone didn't have the ability to heal injuries to this extent, and if she sent another clone, it wouldn't be much help.

"Damnit Kakashi. Wake up and tell me what to do!" Rin shouted at him. Tears clouded her vision as she continued to heal mend his wounds, bit by bit. The break in his arm was causing the most trouble; the bone had shattered into many small fragments upon impact. If she wasn't careful in her realignment, the bone shards could cause more problems later on. But she would rather have more problems later on than none at all, if that meant Kakashi was alive.

At some point during the healing process, Shisui found her. She briefly looked up, quickly scanning over his condition and determined that there was nothing life threatening that she needed to heal. Katsuyu had already made her way over to start closing some of his flesh wounds.

"Pein retracted his soldiers," Shisui told her.

Immediately, Rin let out a sigh of relief. Finally, there was one piece of good news. Her clone had somehow succeeded. That might have explained why she never felt the sensation of her third clone returning to her, even though quite a bit of time has passed since she summoned it. Rin never expected it to last so long.

"Itachi and I are going to track down Kabuto to stop the reanimation. He has summoned an entire army to attack the other villages."

"They won't be able to hold out the Kages much longer," Rin protested. "You-"

"The Kages have stopped fighting," Katsuyu cut in. "It appears that the control over them has been broken."

"What? How?"

"Because I intervened," a new voice stated. Rin whirled around to see a man, sitting cross legged wearing white robes, floating in the air. Both of his eyes possessed the Rinnegan, with a third eye located on the forehead containing the Sharingan. Aside from the third eye, the horns on his head tipped her off that this man couldn't be completely human.

"Who are you?" Shisui asked warily. Both of his hands held kunais, ready to be raised at a moment's notice.

"I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the founder of ninjutsu. I am what you humans know as the Sage of Six Paths."

"Hagoromo," Rin murmured. The name and voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"The souls of the previous Kages have been released to their rightful place," Hagoromo informed him. "However the other reanimated beings on this earth can only be stopped by defeating the caster of the jutsu." At this, Hagoromo shot Shisui a pointed look.

Shisui nodded in understanding, turning to leave.

Releasing her hands from healing Kakashi for a quick moment, Rin summoned another shadow clone, feeling the tug of an enormous amount of chakra draining out of her.

"Take my clone with you. My sensory skills can guide you to Kabuto's exact location."

"Got it."

"Be careful, alright? You and Itachi both."

Shisui shot a boyish grin, giving her a mock salute. "Don't worry about us. Make sure taichou is up and walking by the time we get back. The two of you still owe me a spar."

Rin watched as Shisui took off.

"I see that another chance to live wasn't wasted on you," Hagoromo said. "You did become someone better."

She was lost. "What are you talking about?"

Hagoromo smiled. "I suppose you know me as Romo."

Romo, that name sounded so familiar, like it was right at the tip of her fingertips. Romo…

Then it finally clicked for her. Romo, the man that she had met in that weird dimension, the one that he called limbo? If he was there, what was he doing here, in the world of living?

"Your friend made me aware of the disruption in the world of living. I came to restore order. The dead do not belong here," Hagoromo answered. Rin didn't know why she was surprised; he had been able to read her mind the last time that they met, so this time shouldn't have been any different.

"Kakashi is in limbo?"

"Do not worry. Your friend is still alive. He's just a bit caught up in a chat with his father. Once he is finished, he will return to you."

That was certainly a relief to know.

"I suppose my task is finished here. You've done well for yourself, Rin. I'm glad that you were the one that I chose to save the future."

Rin didn't feel like she did anything out of the ordinary; if anything, it was everyone else that was around her, but she didn't get a chance to voice her thoughts. Just as quickly as he came, Hagoromo disappeared into the thin air.

A guttural groan grabbed her attention. Rin tore her eyes away from the spot that Hagoromo just vacated and placed them onto Kakashi, only to see that he was trying to maneuver himself into a sitting position by propping himself with the elbow of his non-injured arm. Hastily, Rin moved to support his back, slowly pushing him into an upright position all while careful not to agitate his recently mended ribs.

Under normal circumstances she scolded him for even trying to move, but judging from the amount of debris that littered the ground, his backside wasn't comfortable at all.

"How are you feeling?" Concern laced her voice as her eyes roved up and down his entire body, double checking that she hadn't missed anything.

"Like a trainwreck," Kakashi muttered. Just the effort to get the words out of his mouth sent him into a coughing fit. Grimace was written all over his features as his good arm lightly caged itself around his stomach. Quickly understanding what was wrong, Rin pried his arm away from his body, hands already glowing green to ease some of the pain from irritating his ribs.

"Don't talk."

And of course, Kakashi wasn't the type to listen to her orders. "Pein?"

Rin shot him a pointed look, but answered his question nevertheless knowing that he wouldn't relent until he got an answer.

"The attack is over. Akatsuki has surrendered. Shisui and Itachi are on their way to undo Kabuto's reanimation jutsu. Save the rest of your questions for when you aren't in such a terrible state."

"Rin?"

Was he going to ignore her orders again and ask another question?

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for overreacting. I didn't get a chance to say it before, but…"

"Hush. It's all in the past now," Rin murmured. "Just get some rest."

"Rin?"

What now?

"I meant every word that I sent before I teleported you away, you know that right?"

A soft smile graced her features as she recalled those three words that had sent her heart racing. There hadn't been enough time for her to respond, but now Rin finally had her opportunity.

"I love you too, Kakashi."

* * *

**A/N: Hi again!**

**Since the day that I wrote the prologue (back in 2019), I knew that Hagaromo was going to appear at the very end of the story, so here it is! I made some references to their convo way back when so some of the dialogue will make more sense if you go back to the first chapter. **

**I'm sorry that this arc had to end this way. When I first started writing this Pein attack back in January, I had actually had high hopes that it was going to be the best arc, but alas, inspiration left me. To be honest, I wouldn't have even finished this story (at one point I seriously considered just abandoning altogether), but knowing so many people were reading this and expecting a completed story, I picked up writing once in Feb and another time in March, and once more in July to finish the last 3 chapters of the story. These were the hardest 3 chapters to write, disinterest combined with pressure of a passable ending, but I got through it. It turned out to be quite different than I envisioned; I'd say the only parts I actually liked was Kakashi's trip through limbo (because closure) and the return of the Uchiha cousins. **

**If I have a chance (probably not) to redo the story, I would definitely end it at the massacre (with more character development with Team Ro and more cool Anbu missions) considering I ended up not liking the majority of part 2, but it is what it is and we're here near the end now! Super excited to be done with this story. :) **

**Next chapter is the epilogue! Epilogue?! :O Q&A next chapter, so leave all your questions! Jiraiya and Naruto&fuinjutsu will be addressed next chapter. **

**Thanks for reading! Until next time! (last time I get to say this :(). **

**-MM**


	44. Epilogue

**Epilogue - The Finale**

"Neee Rin sensei, are you sure that we aren't going to Ichiraku Ramen?" Naruto moaned. His head was still jerked backwards, staring longingly at his favorite food stall in the entire village. Even though they had already passed the shop, Naruto still clung onto that tiny tendril of hope until they rounded the corner. Letting out a defeated sigh, Naruto resigned himself to allowing himself to be dragged forward by Rin to who knows where.

How was he supposed to know what she wanted when she randomly showed up in the middle of his training session and commanded him to go with her?

"Where are we going anyways?" The question had been burning at the tip of his tongue ever since she showed up, but the air of authority that she exhibited had kept his mouth shut. But he couldn't stand it anymore.

"You'll see," was her ever cryptic response.

Of all of the places that Naruto thought she would bring him to, the graveyard wasn't even on his list. He followed her to the fifth row, walking about halfway down the row until she stopped. A box laid on the grass in front of the graves.

His eyes swung to the headstones, reading the names on the epitaph.

Minato Namikaze. Kushina Uzumaki.

"My parents," Naruto stated flatly, reading in the details written underneath their names. Since his father was the Yondaime and that reverence had been extended to his wife, it hadn't been unexpected to see multiple bouquets of flowers already lying in front of their headstones. The only thing that Naruto couldn't comprehend was why one of the bundles of flowers wasn't from him.

He should have been here a long time ago.

"I'm guessing Izumi told you about them?"

"A bit," Naruto confessed. "But she only showed me a picture and told me their names. She told me that she didn't know much about them because she didn't know them personally, but that you and Kakashi did."

Rin's gaze softened. "I'm sorry that Kakashi and I never told you about your parents. We were just too caught up in our own problems and I know that's not an excuse at all. Kami, your mother is going to murder me in the next life. I didn't keep my promise to her."

"That's okay. You were there for me when no one else was."

Hearing those words come out of Rin's mouth only reminded her of how much Naruto had matured. No longer was the legacy that her sensei left behind, but rather he had carved out his own reputation with his own merit.

Naruto plopped down on the grass, sitting cross legged. He patted the empty spot next to her, inviting her to sit down. She did.

"Can you tell me about my parents?"

"It's a long story."

Naruto shrugged. "I have time."

And so Rin did, not leaving a single detail out. She was sure that Minato sensei wouldn't appreciate her telling his son of all the times that she caught him interacting awkwardly with Kushina or how he'd always lingered by the ramen stand even though he wasn't particularly fond of ramen just to catch a glimpse of the red head or how the famed Yellow Flash was uncharacteristically moody after a minor argument with Kushina or how he sought out Jiraiya of all people to ask for relationship advice that ended with Minato sporting a bleeding nose and a swollen eye. Despite all of the embarrassing times, Rin made up for it by listing all of her Sensei's badass moments on the battlefield.

"You know in the bingo book, he had a flee on sight order," Rin told him enthusiastically. "You should have seen him. Sensei would brush the strap of his backpack off of shoulder and by the time it landed on the ground, he was already gone. When I was genin, I never felt unsafe on our missions because I always knew that he was there."

"The same teleportation jutsu that you and Kakashi sensei use?"

"Yes." Reminded of something, Rin dug around in the box until she found what she was looking for. A three pronged kunai, Minato sensei's trademark weapon. She handed it over to Naruto, who hesitantly took it.

"Isn't this Kakashi sensei's weapon? He gave us one during the chunin exams."

"It's different," Rin insisted. "This one is the original copy belonging to your father. We modified the sealing formula to cater to Kakashi and mine's chakra, but we never altered this one. Minato sensei gave this kunai to Kakashi as his gift for being promoted to jonin. After your father died, Kakashi stowed it away because he wanted to pass it along to you one day."

Naruto tossed the kunai up and down in his hands, testing out the weight.

"Tou san was so cool! Can you teach me the jutsu too?"

"Sure," Rin agreed, laughing lightly. "You'll have to refine your chakra control though. Since it's a space time ninjutsu, if you use too much chakra, you'll be blown into pieces. Even Kakashi had to refine his chakra control a bit further to use the technique."

Naruto gulped upon the revelation. "Ahhhh, maybe not then. It sucks that I won't be able to inherit any of my parent's techniques."

"That's not true," Rin said while she dug around in the box again. "The Rasengan was your father's technique. He was working on the Rasenshuriken before he died and so he passed the technique along to Kakashi. Even after a decade, Kakashi could only form the incomplete version of your Rasenshuriken. So in a way, you completed one of your father's jutsus."

Rin's hand emerged from the box with a red scroll.

"Your mother was a specialist in fuinjutsu. She was the one who taught your father and then she taught me under the condition that I would teach it to you someday. When you were younger, I tried to get you to learn the strokes, but you were always more interested in throwing shurikens with Sasuke instead."

She pressed the scroll into Naruto's open palm. "I know that you are leaving to train in a few days, but I want you to have the scroll while you are on the road. If you are interested in learning more beyond the basics, I can teach you when you get back."

His fingers curled around the scroll.

"Will you be here when I get back?"

Rin nodded. "I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon. Or rather, I don't think Kakashi will let me go anywhere." Rin gestured vaguely in the general direction of her stomach. Naruto was slow to understand, but when understanding dawned on him, a smile split across his face.

"Congratulations! I can't wait to see a mini sensei running around when I get back!"

"Yeah right, if this kid is anything like Kakashi, all he'll do is train."

Naruto laughed heartily. "Still a mini Kakashi. Maybe I'll finally be able to see what's underneath his mask through his kid. Say, can you tell me more about you and Kakashi sensei? Don't tell Kakashi sensei, but whenever we're bored on missions, all we do is speculate on how the two of you got together. And what's under his mask, of course."

Rin shrugged. "It's just a normal face."

Naruto's mouth fell open in shock. "No way! No buck teeth?"

Rin shook her head.

"No big lips?"

"They're normal size."

"His face is completely normal? I can't believe it!" Naruto exclaimed. "Why does he wear a mask then?"

"Hmm, I don't know actually. I never asked and he never told me."

"Did he wear it as a kid?"

"Yes. When I first met him at the Academy, he was already wearing the mask."

"Urgh, that's so frustrating. Can you still tell about when you were younger?"

"Ah well, let's see, where to begin…"

The day that Team Minato formed seemed like an appropriate starting point. She told him of their team dynamic, the banters that occurred between Kakashi and Obito. Naruto was completely in awe that kid Kakashi had been a completely different person.

Then it came time for the Kannabi Bridge mission. Rin quickly glossed over the details, still unwilling to recall the details of the mission in clarity, especially knowing that it had been her fault that Obito was in the caves in the first place. If she hadn't been so weak, she wouldn't have been taken hostage, Obito wouldn't go after her, Kakashi wouldn't lose his eye, Obito would still be alive, and then there wouldn't be a chance for Madara Uchiha to brainwash him and turn him against Konoha.

Obito would still be alive today and perhaps, even Hokage.

The Kyuubi attack likely wouldn't have happened.

There was no use spiraling down that rabbit hole again, so Rin tried to push those thoughts out of her head.

Then came the story of how she became a jinchuuriki.

The story of how it all began.

* * *

It was eerily silent. Even the birds, who decided the branches of the trees in the Uchiha compound was the best place to make their nests, were long gone. All that remained was the faint memories of the sound of birds chirping every morning, eight o'clock on the dot.

For the first time in Itachi's memories, the main house was empty. Every morning, Itachi would always find his father sitting at the kitchen table with a newspaper spread across the table. The steam escaping from the mug that was placed within his father's reach was always the first thing that caught Itachi's attention. Like clockwork, Itachi would casually stroll past the table, craning his head to get a look at the contents of the mug or a whiff of the scent.

It was one of their ongoing challenges: to see if Itachi could identify the type of tea that Fugaku was drinking since he switched it up every single day. At the beginning of the challenge, Itachi was losing terribly, but as time passed, Itachi started to pick up on a pattern. Combined with soaking up knowledge from Rin about the different types of herbs, Itachi started to catch up.

Their current store was a tie and it remained stagnant for the last ten years. No victor would ever be declared.

Itachi moved to the kitchen. Dust coated everything from the countertops to the floor to the sink. His mother had an uncanny obsession with maintaining cleanliness in the household, always the one to meet him at the front door after a mission and shove him straight into the bathroom to shower, and if she was the one standing here today, Mikoto would most certainly throw a fit.

The wooden door to the pantry creaked loudly. Peering inside, Itachi noted that it contained the porcelain set that his mother had been gifted for her wedding, one that Mikoto only used for special occasions. The dishes were stacked neatly on top of each other, from the largest to the smallest, followed by the bowls on top of the smallest dish. The teacups were placed upside down on the sides of the largest plate.

Itachi shut the door with more force than necessary, causing dust to float in the air. Instinctively, Itachi slid his arm over his face so that the crook of his elbow covered his nose. He was quick to leave the kitchen albeit more carefully this time in order to not stir up too much dust.

In his haste, Itachi hadn't given much thought to where he was going. By the time his eyes landed on the massive brown stain in the middle of the room, it was too late. It seemed like fate had a way of messing with him, of all the places that he wanted to avoid, it was the living room of his own home.

The other stains throughout the Uchiha compound didn't bother him, simply because it was just blood to him. Itachi didn't know whose blood it belonged to, perhaps it belonged to multiple people. But this particular stain in front of him…

No matter how he tried, Itachi would never forget.

And he wasn't sure he wanted to forget, the pain associated with being haunted by this particular memory was what kept him grounded to reality. He was alive, but he was suffering for it.

Briefly his thoughts flickered to Shisui, who was currently on the other side of the compound, presumably exploring his own home. He wondered if his cousin felt the same way that he did.

Itachi forced himself to tear his eyes away from the stains; he didn't need a reminder when the memory still remained so fresh in his head. He whirled around, promising to come back another day when he was more prepared, only to stop short when he saw his childhood friend standing in front of him.

"Izumi."

"I figured you would be here," Izumi stated softly. "Your habits haven't changed at all, has it?"

Itachi didn't have a response for her. In fact, he was at an utter loss of what to say to her. The last time they met, Itachi was too preoccupied with battling Kisame to speak to her, then the time prior to that, Itachi had harshly turned her down knowing that he was going to slaughter their entire clan a few hours later.

He wondered if it had been a good idea to have allowed himself to grow attached to her; after all, she hadn't been part of the plan. Sasuke was supposed to be the sole survivor of that night, but something caused him to change his plans barely twenty four hours before the massacre was set to take place.

Meeting her again hadn't been part of his plans either. Itachi always thought he would die before he had the opportunity to return to Konoha as an ally. But now that Izumi was standing in front of him once more, he was at a loss for words.

_Sorry for killing the entire clan? _That sounded too insensitive.

His mind flickered back to the message that he wanted Rin to pass along to Izumi and Sasuke if he died.

_Tell the two of them that I will love them, always. _That didn't seem appropriate either; they probably hated him after everything he had done.

And Itachi deserved it.

So he settled for saying nothing. He didn't ask for forgiveness because he didn't deserve it. He didn't ask how Izumi had been because the moment that he walked out of her life, he lost all rights to know. He didn't ask about Sasuke because he wasn't fit to be his older brother. Older brothers were supposed to be a role model for the younger, yet with his record full of crimes that would get him sentenced to death by Konoha's council, Itachi hadn't been exactly that.

"The truth behind the Uchiha massacre has been publicized," Izumi said. It seemed like nothing had changed between them; Izumi was still the one to fill the silence in their conversations. Yet Itachi couldn't delude himself into believing that.

Everything had changed.

"I understand why you had to do it, but did it really have to come to that?" Izumi questioned softly.

"You were there," Itachi answered. "Everything was fine until Danzo started to fuel the flames between us and the village. Even if Shisui and I were against the coup, they were going to revolt anyways. The last thing that Konoha needed was a civil war."

"So you took matters into your own hands."

"When it came down to it, Shisui and I would have chosen to stand with the village. We would have been pitted against our own clansmen, our family, our friends. I didn't want to see that happen."

"Then why didn't you kill me too? I can understand Sasuke, but why me?"

Those three words were right at the tip of his tongue, but Itachi forced himself to swallow them. He couldn't do that to Izumi; he didn't have any right to barge back into her life after he forcibly removed himself from it.

So he settled for a half truth instead. "Sasuke needed someone to look out for him."

"No," Izumi countered. "You are the one that needs someone to look out for. Underneath that tough exterior, I can tell that you're breaking, Itachi. It's okay, you can let it all out."

Itachi didn't. Even if he wanted to, it had been so long that he kept his feelings enclosed that he didn't know how to let it out. It was better if he didn't have to deal with them at all, but for all that he was, Itachi was still human.

A human with all sorts of complex emotions that he didn't know how to deal with.

"Do you hate me?"

There, Itachi had finally done it. Even though it was almost certain that she did, he just wanted to hear for himself to get closure. Closure was good. Closure would help him move on and stop clinging onto the past.

Only Izumi failed to meet his expectations. "No. At one point I did, but at some point I realized that none of it really mattered. The Uchihas never liked me anyways. I think I was more torn up that the Uchihas that I did care about betrayed the village. But now that I know the truth behind the massacre, I only wished that you didn't choose to shoulder the burden by yourself. You should have let me in on the plan."

Itachi shook his head. "You would never have gathered the resolve to kill them."

"You still could have told me."

"You would have tried to stop us," Itachi countered. "Besides, it was better if you lived unaware so that you won't have to bear the burden of the knowledge."

"What about Rin and Kakashi?"

"Rin wouldn't have let me leave the village if I didn't tell her. I knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from Kakashi, so I told her that she should tell him and no one else. It's not her fault that she didn't tell you; I was the one who made her promise. It turned out to be alright because they became our correspondences to Konoha."

"So she found out afterwards?"

Itachi nodded. "They do not belong to the Uchiha clan; the burden wasn't theirs to bear."

Sensing that Izumi was going to argue against him, Itachi shot her a pointed look. "It wasn't your burden to bear either. As the clan heir…"

Nothing more had to be said. A mutual understanding passed through them.

"What are you going to do now?"

Itachi shrugged.

"What about Sasuke?"

Itachi's dark eyes bore into hers. "Send him my regards."

"You're not going to go see him?"

"I'm not staying."

Izumi's eyes widened. "Why? Everyone knows the truth now. You're not a traitor or a missing nin anymore."

"I don't belong here. Never have, never will."

* * *

Someone was calling her name, but Rin simply groaned and rolled over to her other side. Pulling the blanket over her head, she tried to block out the noise. But whoever it was, was relentless.

When she felt something touch her nose, Rin finally forced her eyes to slide open. Blinking a couple of times to get rid of the blurriness, her eyes finally landed on the culprit.

"Pakkun? What are you doing here?"

"You were supposed to show up to the council meeting and when you weren't there, Kakashi sent me to check up on you."

Oh, Rin had completely forgotten about that. Was it noon already?

She had slept longer than she had thought.

"How long has the meeting been going on?" Rin asked wearily. A part of her hoped that the meeting was already done because she really didn't feel like she could successfully stand up without throwing up, but the other part of her knew that if the meeting was still going, she would go.

No matter how late she would be.

"Kakashi said to not worry about it," Pakkun informed her. "Besides, if he knew, he wouldn't want you to overexert yourself anyways."

Rin blinked in surprise. Pakkun must have already noticed her change in scent. "Don't tell him just yet. I want to be the one to do it."

Pakkun nodded, taking a few steps towards her to curl up by her side.

"Go back to sleep."

Rin fell asleep again.

The next time that she woke was when she felt a noticeable dip in the mattress, followed by a pair of arms circling her waist. Pakkun was no longer in sight, probably dismissed since the summoner was back. She shifted her body slightly so that she could see Kakashi's face.

"What time is it?" Rin murmured, still feeling a little bit groggy. The good news was that she didn't feel the sensation of bile threatening to make its way up her throat.

"Around two."

"Two? Aren't you supposed to be at the Hokage's office?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Pakkun told me that you weren't feeling well so I wanted to check up on you. Don't worry, I already caught up on my paperwork so I can afford to slip away for a bit."

Prying Kakashi's hold from her waist, Rin moved to position herself in an upright position. Kakashi aided her by grabbing the pillow and rearranging it so her back could rest against it.

"Kakashi, I have something to tell you." It was now or never. Kakashi would find out eventually, whether through her stomach showing or through his sense of smell. While his nose wasn't as sharp as Pakkun's, he would start noticing eventually.

For Rin, she harbored mixed feelings on the subject, but the scariest part was stepping into the unknown. The topic had never come up in between them; even marriage had been a quiet, and quick affair, just a simple registration. The two of them had been too busy trying to protect the village to even think about it.

By this point, Kakashi was practically an open book for her. Yet, even Rin didn't know what his reaction would be to this news.

Kakashi nodded for her to go on.

"I'm pregnant."

Rin was glad that Kakashi didn't try to put on a fake reaction for her sake. Judging from the way his eyebrows furrowed upon receiving the news, Kakashi was processing. Unlike her, he didn't have an extra month to process the news. She wouldn't have found out as soon as she did if it wasn't for her sensory skills.

Kakashi finally spoke. "How far along?"

"About six weeks."

Rin could practically see the gears turning in his head as he mentally calculated the number of weeks left until delivery. The number of weeks that they had to prepare. The number of weeks left until their life irrevocably changed.

"What are you thinking?" Rin prodded.

"I don't know if I would be a good father." That was expected, considering neither of them grew up in a stable childhood environment and Kakashi spent a great part of his life resenting his father.

"Me either," Rin confessed. "But I suppose that Minato and Kushina are the closest that we had to parents."

"I-" Rin choked up. "I'm also scared that there will be a repeat of the Kyuubi attack. Ever since I found out, I have nightmares that Isobu will be extracted from me just like Kurama was extracted from Kushina and I-"

"Shh."

Rin fell silent, breathing in and out to calm herself down.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen this time around," Kakashi tried to console her. "I know it's scary to think about, but the mask man is gone."

Getting a front row view of the Kyuubi extraction that night had scarred her for life to the point where Rin decided that she never wanted to have any kids. But now that it happened, her emotions were conflicted. The fear was still there, but seeing Kurenai and Asuma with little Mirai made her want that for her herself too.

"Are you sure? We don't even have to-"

"I want to," Kakashi firmly stated. "Even though I'm going to run straight to Asuma for advice once this conversation is over because I'm freaking out on the inside, I want this kid as much as you do. I know you do. Ever since you were young, you always talked about starting a family."

"I know, but I think that changed on the night of Kushina's death. I'm so scared."

His fingers looped through hers. He squeezed her hand tightly. "I'll be there with you every step of the way. I'll dig up Kushina's old scrolls and start brushing up on my fuinjutsu. I can even transport you to the Kamui dimension; no one will be able to attack us there."

And once again, she was reminded how fortunate she was to have him by her side.

"Thank you."

* * *

It had been such a long time since the four of them were seated together at the same table that Rin wished this meetup would never end. Unfortunately, each of them had their own duties to return to eventually.

They met at a tea shop located outside of the village, about half an hour travel in the westward direction from the main gates. It was a quaint shop, serving a variety of freshly brewed teas and some sweets. Itachi had naturally ordered a few sticks of dango. Kakashi and Shisui settled for some kind of herbal tea, while Rin opted for nothing.

She didn't want to consume anything that would upset her stomach and consequently cut this reunion short. It would be awhile before she saw either of them again.

For the first time, Itachi and Shisui had forgone wearing clothing with the Uchiha symbol stitched on the back. Instead, they wore plain black and gray shirts, complementing their hair colors. Their foreheads were devoid of the Konoha headband. Rather, they were tucked away in the pockets of their pants.

Kakashi and Rin had forgone the Konoha headband as well, simply not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Rather than wearing the full set of shinobi gear, Kakashi opted to wear just the navy undershirt and pants. So far, no one has recognized him as the Hokage yet, so that was good.

"Maa, are you sure that you don't want to stay? Shikaku san and Wolf want to retire and I think that the two of you would be perfect to fill the Jonin Commander and Anbu Commander roles."

"Thanks for the offer, but yes, we already made up our minds," Shisui answered. He stole a piece of dango from Itachi, earning himself a glare in the process. "Even with the truth out, there are still quite a lot of people who still aren't open to the idea of seeing us around the village."

"Konoha is your home too," Kakashi argued. "The home that you sacrificed everything to save."

Shisui smiled. "I know. It's not like we don't plan on coming back, we just figured that the villagers need a bit of time before they come around. Besides, Itachi and I never got around to exploring the world during our time at the Akatsuki and this is the perfect opportunity for us to do that."

"That is, if we have your permission, Hokage sama," Shisui cheekily tacked on.

Kakashi rolled his eye, lazily waving a hand to wave them off. "Permission granted. Wouldn't want you to actually go rogue this time if I denied your request."

"You know it."

"Time limit is seven months though," Rin added. "You better be back in time to see the baby."

Shisui nodded excitedly. "Of course. We wouldn't miss it for the world, right Itachi?" Shisui not so subtly elbowed his cousin in the side to jerk him out of his self induced daze.

Itachi cleared his throat. "Shisui is right."

"What's bothering you?"

"Ah, not much. It's just…"

"Your conversation with Izumi?" Rin finished for him. Itachi nodded. "Don't worry about her. She doesn't blame you for what you did. Well I'm sure you know since you talked to her."

"Yeah, but I don't think we could ever go back to the way we were."

Ah, so that was what Itachi was concerned about.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe by the time that you come back, she'll have come around." Or rather, Rin was certain that they could start back up where they had left off since her friend confided in her more than once that even with all these years, the feelings never waned. But she didn't want to tell Itachi; that was for Izumi to say.

Itachi nodded, quietly accepting her words of comfort.

Shisui finished the last of his tea. Nudging Itachi in the shoulder, the two of them stood up.

"It's time for us to go."

"Be careful. Don't forget to answer my correspondences once in a while."

"Will do."

Kakashi and Rin watched as the two of them left the tea shop. Through the window, they spotted Itachi and Shisui throwing on their cloaks before heading down the road. Their backs grew smaller and smaller in the distance until they disappeared from their line of sight altogether.

Seven months was manageable.

After all, they already waited eleven years.

**The End.**

* * *

**A/N: Can I just say FINALLY? Hello, for the last time. Sorry in advance for the super long note ahead, but there's a lot of things that I wanted to share!**

**First of all, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, or read the story to make it to this point! Knowing that there were other people reading the story besides myself is what spurred me to finish this story, even after a five month slump in writing.**

**Lots of things happened in this story that aren't necessarily my proudest writing or idea, but I'm glad I pulled through with converting this story from a 500 word excerpt that I wrote back in 2015 to a full length story.**

**_So what's up with the ending?_ I never decided whether Jiraiya died or not, that's bad writing on my part but to be honest, it could go either way. I'll leave that up to you guys to decide. I chose to write about Izumi and Itachi instead of Sasuke and Itachi because I felt that we already got a version of what Sasuke and Itachi would have looked like from anime. Besides, this version of Sasuke isn't that fleshed out so I have no idea how their conversation will go. And well, I really wanted to throw in a bit of Izumi/Itachi pairing because there weren't enough of them in filler. **

_**What will happen to Itachi and Shisui?**_** In the perfect AU, Itachi or Shisui would be Hokage (the other would be jonin commander) and Rin would serve as head of the council and Kakashi would be the Anbu commander and I kind of alluded to that with Kakashi's comment, but in this world, as much I would like it to happen, Konoha would not accept them as Hokage :( The truth about them has been cleared, but they did spend 11 years with the Akatsuki so Konoha's perception towards them won't change that quickly. In a way, leaving the village for a while will serve as a reprieve for them, as well give Konoha some time to come around. Hope that answers your question! **

**_So what's in the future for this story?_ No sequel. In a way, this story is actually two stories combined (part 1&2), so I think that's more than enough. However, Team Ro is one of my favorite things that came out of the story and I love them so much that I started writing some bonus arcs featuring them in an AU setting. Nothing has come out of it because I wrote it for fun and there's no plot, but if I ever get something out of it, I'll post it. **

**_So what's next?_ I have two stories that are currently ongoing: In the Name of War and A Flicker in Time (click on my profile to find them!) I would love for you all to join me there, but if these stories don't interest you, that's okay. Thank you for giving this story a chance!**

**In the ****Name of**** War****: AU setting where the Senjus and Uchihas never made peace with each other and founded Konoha. It's a Kakashi centric story with a good amount of Rin, Obito, and Itachi (sorry I left out Shisui as a main character in this one). **

**A Flicker in**** Time:**** Team Minato (minus Rin, you'll see why) time travel story to the future! It'll be a short story, wrote it just for fun and thought I would share!**

**As you always know, pm's are open. I read every single review and I will respond via pm (if you aren't reviewing as a guest) if you have any lingering questions/thoughts. Also I'm open to requests (pertaining to Team Minato or Team Ro) but I can't promise that it will be done. It'll depend on a mixture of if I like the idea enough/inspiration/time. **

**Ahh, this is getting long. For the last time, THANK YOU! Hope all of you are safe and perhaps I'll see you around in the future, whether it's through your stories or mine!**

**-MM**


End file.
